An Assessment of the Costs and Benefits of Mining Deepsea Minerals in the Pacific Island Region

An Assessment of the Costs and Benefits of Mining Deepsea Minerals in the Pacific Island Region: Deep-sea Mining Cost-Benefit Analysis

This report describes a preliminary economic (cost-benefit) analysis of deep-sea minerals (DSM) mining in the Pacific Island region. Since mining has yet to occur anywhere in the world, the analysis is based on realistic yet hypothetical mining scenarios developed for three mineral deposits thought to have a high potential for economic viability:

• Seafloor-massive Sulphide (SMS) Deposits in Papua New Guinea (PNG),
• Polymetallic Manganese Nodules (MN) in the Cook Islands, and
• Ferromanganese Cobalt-rich Crusts (CRC) in the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI).