Abstract

Inorganic raw materials are defined as any mineral deposit found in the marine environment. The ocean is host to a variety and quantity of inorganic raw materials equaling or surpassing the resources of these materials available on land. The mineral resources include industrial minerals, mineral sands, phosphorites, metalliferous oxides, hydrothermal metalliferous sulfides, and dissolved minerals, as well as geothermal resources, gas hydrates precious corals, and some algae. The resources are classified as unconsolidated, consolidated, or fluid materials that are chemically enriched in certain elements and are found in or on the seabeds of the continental shelves and ocean basins. With few exceptions these materials are similar to traditional mineral deposits on land. A significant source of minerals for sustainable recovery in the future may be ocean waters, which include nearly all the known elements in some degree of solution. Commercialization of production of dissolved minerals from seawater is limited to freshwater, magnesium, magnesium compounds, salt, bromine, and heavy water, ie, deuterium oxide. There are four basic methods of mining solid minerals: scraping the surface, excavating a pit or trench, removal through a borehole in the form of a slurry or fluid, and tunneling into the deposit. An apparently significant advantage to recovery of mineral raw materials from the marine environment is the benign effects of these activities when compared to the recovery of the same materials from land.