Critical mineralsCritical Minerals in U.S. Waters
For centuries, people have crossed oceans in search of valuable minerals. In recent times, though, increasing attention has been paid to the oceans themselves for their mineral potential, especially rock formations on the seafloor. American researchers are focusing primarily on the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ. This region extends 200 miles from a country’s shoreline and gives the country control over the exploration and exploitation of marine resources in that area.
For centuries, people have crossed oceans in search of valuable minerals. In recent times, though, increasing attention has been paid to the oceans themselves for their mineral potential, especially rock formations on the seafloor.
As part of the President’s 2018 Executive Order on critical minerals, marine mineral information is key to helping the federal government understand its potential mineral wealth; helping industry determine which regions and deposits might be worth exploring; and helping stakeholders understand the effects of mining on the marine environment.
Deep Frontiers
USGS scientist Amy Gartman, who leads the USGS Global Ocean Mineral Resources Project, understands the fascination.
“The ocean seafloor really is one of the frontier areas of mineral resource science,” she explains. “We know a lot about how minerals form and where deposits occur on land, and even in the nearshore areas, but out in the deep ocean, there are huge areas that are completely unsampled, so we can only hypothesize about what is there.”
Currently, there is no large-scale mining of marine mineral resources anywhere in the world. However, a number of countries and companies are actively pushing forward with studies of resource potential, economic and environmental requirements for resource development, and pilot projects to evaluate deep-sea mining technologies.
USGS says that it has been investigating marine mineral potential since the 1970s, focusing primarily on the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ. This region extends 200 miles from a country’s shoreline and gives the country control over the exploration and exploitation of marine resources in that area.
“The minerals that the USGS has studied have fluctuated throughout the years, but in 2018, as part of President Trump’s Federal Strategy on Critical Minerals, the Department of the Interior published a list of 35 mineral commodities deemed critical to the economy and security of the United States. That list and strategy have given focus to which mineral resources the USGS will prioritize in its marine research and its partnerships with agencies like the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
Prioritizing the Process
Understanding how minerals form has always been a priority for the USGS, because that process is foundational both for locating resources that can be produced as well as anticipating what potential effects extracting them can have on the nearby environment.
