Cuba supports investments in the sea in search of metals

Juan Ruiz Quintana, Director General of Mining, of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, today supported a proposal by the 70th anniversary regular Council meeting of the Interoceanmetal Joint Organization to attract investment in the oceans in search of metals.

We support this initiative and urge the countries that make up the organization to update the legal framework for its management in order to undertake it, suggested the representative of the Island in one of his speeches at the meeting, which is being held in Burgas, a city on the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea.

According to sources from the Ministry of Energy and Mines from the venue of the event, the Cuban representative indicated in this regard the need to take into account the Convention on the Sea, also known as the Law of the Sea, and the legislation of each member of Interoceanmetal, not only in terms of law, but also environmental requirements.

The deliberations of the meeting in plenary will be held until Thursday to analyze the progress of the mining project to extract cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) from the marine nodules.

Such a project is international in nature because it is sponsored by Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Cuba.

Mineral resources are finite and this reality has caused many countries to look to the sea in order to find sources for obtaining metals, as was once the case for oil production, according to specialists in the sector.

They considered that this will be the future secure source for the continued development of information technology and electric cars, based on the mineral resources deposited on the ocean floor.

With this perspective in mind, the plenary sessions of the Interoceanic Council have been held in the Bulgarian city of Burgas, which advocates the granting of a geological research concession in the zone located between the Clarion and Clipperton fractures in the Western Pacific, southwest of Baja California, with potentialities in polymetallic marine nodules.

On the last day of its sessions, a protocol will be signed, setting out the action plan until its meeting in November, when the date of the next geological campaign, which precedes the mining operation, will be evaluated.

One day later, Interoceametal representatives will attend the European Mining Business Forum to be held at Hotel Mariela in Sofia, which will be attended by European mining authorities and their main companies.

A conference by Dr. Tomasz Abramowski, CEO of Interoceanmetal, based in the port city of Szczecin, Poland, is also planned.

Interoceanmetal has a project in which Cuban entities of the business groups CUBANÍQUEL and Geominero Salinero (GEOMINSAL) play an important role in the metallurgical technologies for its processing.