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Rare Metal Contents and Their Implications of Seabed Mineral Resources Explored by Korea  

Pak, Sang-Joon (Deep-sea & Marine Georesources Research Department, Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute)
Moon, Jai-Woon (Deep-sea & Marine Georesources Research Department, Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute)
Lee, Kyeong-Yong (Deep-sea & Marine Georesources Research Department, Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute)
Chi, Sang-Bum (Deep-sea & Marine Georesources Research Department, Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute)
Publication Information
Economic and Environmental Geology / v.43, no.5, 2010 , pp. 455-466 More about this Journal
Abstract
Seabed mineral resources explored by Korea are categorized into major three types of deposit; manganese nodule, manganese crust and polymetallic sulfides. Pt displays high enrichment factors (400, ore/crust ratios) in manganese nodule. Rare earth oxide content in manganese nodule ranges from 0.037 to 0.302 REO % with mean value of 0.12 REO %. Both of Te and Pt are enriched elements in manganese crust, displaying enrichment factors of 10800 and 150, respectively. Rare earth oxide's contents of manganese crust are slightly higher than manganese nodule's (0.013~0.387 REO %, average = 0.18 REO %). Se and In are outstanding rare metals from seabed polymetallic sulfides, showing enrichment factors of 1300 and 110, respectively. Au (0.8~26.3 g/t) and Ag (0.9~348.0 g/t) are another enriched elements in polymetallic sulfides. The main concern at exploiting seabed mineral resource will be a securing rare metals for high-technology industries and rare metals from subsea mineral deposits will add economic values to commodity candidates such like Co, Ni and Cu.
Keywords
rare metals; rare earth elements; manganese nodule; manganese crust; polymetallic sulfides;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 4  (Citation Analysis)
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