• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.139-145
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• 2022

Manganese nodules were recovered within the deep subseafloor sediments (118.22 mbsf) at Site U1371 during International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) expedition 329 from the South Pacific Gyre (SPG). Because most manganese nodules exist on the seabed surface, nodules present in deep sediments are uncommon. Therefore, the growth origin of manganese nodules was identified through mineralogical and geochemical analyses. The manganese nodule was divided into the concentric layer outside the manganese region and the inner part of the phosphatized region consisting of manganese oxide minerals and carbonate fluorapatite (CFA) minerals, respectively. The two-dimensional element distribution analysis of Mn, Co, Ni, Sr and Cu, Zn with low Mn/Fe ratio confirmed that manganese nodules were formed predominantly by a hydrogenetic process and a biogenic process in certain manganese layers. As a result, the manganese nodule was continuously precipitated in SPG environments of oligotrophic open paleoocean conditions and rapidly buried with siliceous ooze sediments when the SPG changed to a eutrophic environment. It has been confirmed that manganese nodules found within deep subseafloor sediments could be used as a new proxy for the reconstruction of paleooceanographic conditions.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.455-463
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• 2014

This paper presents data from performance tests carried out to assess a manganese nodule crusher. Manganese nodules should be crushed into smaller pieces in order to assure the slurry flow of the lifting system. Both artificial nodules and real manganese nodules are used to evaluate nodule breaking ability of the crusher. The crushing performance of the crusher depends on the flow rate and pressure of the power transmission device. The size of the crushed manganese nodules also depends on the shape of the crushing drum. In this paper, several comparative tests are carried out to evaluate and improve the crushing performance and find the optimal design point of the crusher.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.187-197
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• 2004

The purpose of this paper is to investigate economic feasibility of manganese nodules in Korea area (Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone). We assumed that the production scale of manganese nodules were 3.0MT or 1.5MT and analyzed that the capital cost and operating cost were estimated in the four sectors, exploration, mining, transportation and metallurgical process. The capital cost and operating cost evaluation reflects the latest technical practices. First, for analyzing economic feasibility, the scenario suggests that the production of 4 metals can be made for 25 years. Assuming the discount rate at 8.0%, equity capital at 50% and tax at 27%. When manganese nodule were mininged 3.0 MT, economic feasibility analyses showed that IRR was 12.8 and pay-back period was 9.2 years, and when manganese nodules were mininged 1.5 MT, economic feasibility analyses showed that IRR was 4.0 and pay-back period was 11.8 years. This study indicated there is economic validity of at the product of manganese nodules 3.0 MT. In addition, we carried out a sensitivity analysis at the change of cobalt price on mining 1.5 MT. The result of sensitivity analysis clearly showed that economic validity is high at increasing of cobalt price 50% up.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.64-68
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• 2011

The typical properties of manganese nodules are its high porosity and high specific surface area and manganese in nodules is existed as ${\delta}$-MnO$_2$. These properties suggest that manganese nodules ran be used as an adsorbent for heavy metal ions. This study investigated the practical applicability for the removal of copper ions in the waste water by manganese nodules as an adsorbent using fixed column and fix bed systems. Manganese nodules of 1kg (size 1-3 cm) can absorb 4.0g Cu in fixed column system and 2.3g Cu in fixed bed system from waste water for 3 hours respectively.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.219-227
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• 2017

Manganese (Mn) nodules in the Arctic Sea have been founded in the Kara Sea and Barents Sea, but mineral and chemical compositions have been rarely investigated. In this study, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of Mn nodules obtained during the Arctic Expedition ARA07C in northern East Siberian Sea were identified, and then genesis of Mn nodules were estimated by using these characteristics. Main manganese oxide minerals constituting the manganese nodule were buserite, birnessite, and vernadite. The Mn nodules generally represent radiated and massive texture, and the layered texture was developed restrictively. The radiated texture, main feature of the manganese nodule in the East Siberian Sea, is mainly composed of cuspate-globular microstructure. Compared with the Mn nodules in Pacific and Indian Oceans, Mn nodules of the East Siberian Sea are abundant in Mn, but Fe is too scarce. There was no difference in the chemical composition and microstructures between outer and inner part of nodule. Therefore, nodules are most likely to have only one genesis during their growth, and all of nodules indicate the diagenetic in $Mn-Fe-(Cu+Ni+Co){\times}10$ ternary diagram. It is considered that the manganese nodules in the East Siberian Sea are characterized by high Mn contents because manganese contents in the Arctic Ocean were mainly resulted from river or coastal erosion and most of them are trapped in the Arctic Ocean.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.679-688
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• 2009

Worldwide exploring and research for manganese nodules, as new energy resource, distributed on the deep seabed have progressed recently. Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute(KORDI) is a central organization to exploit the manganese nodules in the Pacific Ocean with 5,000m depth. Precise exploration is required for estimating amount of recoverable deposit, and this task could be accomplished by processing digital image processing techniques to the images taken by underwater camera system. Image processing and analysis provide information about characteristics of distribution of the manganese nodules. This study proposed effective methods to remove vignetting effect to improve image quality and to extract information. The results show more reliable information could be obtained by removing the vignetting and feasibility of utilizing image processing techniques for exploring the manganese nodules.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.505-514
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• 2014

The development of deep seabed manganese nodules has been carried out with the aim of commercial development in 2023. It is important to forecast the price of the four metals (copper, nickel, cobalt, and manganese) extracted from manganese nodules because price change is a criterion for investment decision. The main purpose of the study is to forecast the price of four metals using the ARIMA model and VAR model, and calculate the MAPE to compare a goodness-of-fit between the two models. The estimated results of the two models reveal statistical significance and are in keeping with economic theory. The results of MAPE for goodness-of-fit show that the VAR model is between 0.1 and 0.2, and the ARIMA model is between 0.4 and 0.6. That is, the VAR model is better than the ARIMA model in forecasting changes in the price of metals.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.515-524
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• 2014

The Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology has acquired detailed biological, chemicophysical, and geological data in the northeastern Pacific through a manganese nodule program since 1983. Plenty of manganese nodules were collected to estimate the amount of resources by free-fall grab and box corer. The collected manganese nodules have been archived systematically in the rock and mineral storage section of the Library of Marine Samples (LIMS) since 2012. The LIMS provides essencial information on the stored samples including sample name, nodule type, sampling location, depth, and equipment. Although a high quality database of the information system is under construction, the samples have tagged information for manganese nodules like chemical composition, morphology, weight, size, abundance, and photograph. In this study, we attempted to provide information on the well-organized and easily accessible archived manganese nodule samples for future studies and to introduce the usefulness of the LIMS.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.477-490
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• 2005

The development of manganese nodule mining technology is very important in order to secure a long-term and stable supply of rare strategic metals. In the twenty years following the R&D activities with the international consortia in the 1970s, studies on mining technologies have been carried out by several national projects in Korea. The current metal prices such as copper, nickel, cobalt, and manganese have been drastically changed since 2002. Rapid economic growth of Asian countries, especially China, have induced the situation. And the possibility of copper shortage is looming just around the comer. Because of the imbalance between production and consumption, copper is fundamentally the most threatened metal in the future in terms of potential metal shortage. Manganese nodules contain a considerable percentage of copper as the future metal resource. Therefore, it is necessary to concentrate our effects on developing these resources. This paper introduces our evaluation of R&D progress for the development of manganese nodules. The issue and role of manganese nodules during the difficult period of a potential future metal shortage period is discussed and its prospect outlined. Also, this paper tried to emphasize the necessity of continuous R&D efforts for the commercial development of such mineral resources.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.427-437
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• 2020

Manganese nodules, which are evaluated as potential metal resources, have been found in the Arctic Ocean as well as in the abyssal plains of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Manganese nodules exhibit strong variations in the morphology, internal texture, chemical composition and mineralogy as they grow. The relationship between the texture and chemical elemental composition during the growth process is well documented, but the mineral composition variation during the growth process is not. Because the manganese oxide minerals in nodules are fine-grained and poorly crystalline, quantitative analysis for the mineral composition is challenging for the bulk nodule sample. This study investigated the internal texture and Mn-oxide mineral composition of manganese nodules obtained from the East Siberian Sea. Semi-quantitative analysis was attempted for three main Mn-oxide minerals constituting the manganese nodules (i.e., todorokite, buserite and birnessite) using the peak area ratio of X-ray diffraction analysis graphs. In the East Siberian Sea manganese nodules, birnessite is more abundant than buserite or todorokite, and no correlation is found between the mineral composition and the internal texture. Instead a correlation is found between the relative content of todorokite and the lamellae depth. The todorokite content tends to increase from the surface to the core of the nodules, which can be attributed to a recrystallization process or difference in the growth rate within the nodule. This study shows that semi-quantitative analysis of manganese oxide minerals using the peak area ratio is useful in the mineralogical study of manganese nodules.