Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Mineral exploitation in Antarctica (Why is there no exploitation and hence…
Mineral exploitation in Antarctica
Treaties
Madrid Protocol (1998)
:forbidden:All mining banned for 50 years
Nobody knew in 1959 whether there would be commercial interest in resource exploitation
'Just in case' treaty
Antarctic Treaty (1959)
50 states have signed
Scale of issue
Global
Resources
Elements :atom_symbol:
Almost all elements have been found on the coast, but this doesn't mean that there are no resources inland. These are the accessible ones that we have found
Molybdenum :building_construction:
Steel refining
Manganese :battery:
Batteries
Silver :ring:
Jewellery
Gold :yellow_heart:
Jewellery
Cobalt :cancer:
Cancer treatment
Copper :zap:
Electric circuits
Chromium :hocho:
Stainless steal
Predicted to exist in Antarctica but has never been found
Iron :building_construction:
Steel
steel
Found in surface rocks and deep under ice, but the ores are very impure and too far scattered
Nickel :potable_water:
Piping
Lead :car:
Car batteries
Titanium :airplane:
Aeroplane bodies
Uranium :radioactive_sign:
Nuclear power
Zinc :lower_left_paintbrush:
Paint and cosmetics
Coal :pick:
Antarctica has coal in its mountains but its moist, ashy, thin, broken and low quality. Its hard to access but was once surveyed for the prospect of mining and found to be unviable. It would have been mined if it were commercially viable, despite the treaties.
Oil :oil_drum:
Exists in oil and rocks
#
If Shale Oil becomes cheaper than
Oil
Oil, this will be a significant issue. Antarctica has BIG reserves of Shale
Why is there no exploitation and hence little threat in the immediate future?
:moneybag: Expensive
:airplane: Distance from civilisation
:snowflake: Cold
Snow, ice and glaciers thousands of metres deep are in the way :snowman: :snow_capped_mountain:
it's hard to find out what's down there :question:
#
How would you retrieve it anyway? :confused:
Only 2% is ice free
There is no weathering,particularly no liquid water to concentrate minerals, meaning they spread out thinner. There are few veins in high enough concentration to be worth mining :cloud:
#
$100 per barrel to get oil from Antarctica (RRP $58) :oil_drum:
:skull_and_crossbones: Dangerous
:ocean:Icebergs and pack ice are a problem for transport
It's banned anyway, and the bans can't be overturned without another treaty :forbidden:
There are 30-100 years worth of oil remaining, so extracting it from Antarctica is not a priority
