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China Enters a New Stage of Cobalt Crust Exploration

Recently, the "Ocean No. Six" expedition team of the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey under the China Geological Survey successfully completed the 1.5 m shallow drilling operations at 44 stations set up in the Weijia Guyot mine area, Western Pacific, marking a milestone in the transition of China's cobalt crust exploration from a resource survey stage to a general exploration stage.

According to Yao Huiqiang, a chief scientist of the third leg of the Oceanic 41B voyage, the Weijia Guyot mine area has been gained by our country by signing a cobalt crust exploration contract with the International Seabed Authority in 2014. According to the contract, this area covers 3,000 square kilometers, the exploration period is 15 years, and China shall waive 1/3 of the exploration area on the 8th and 10th year respectively and finally reserve a mine area of 1,000 square kilometers where it is entitled to priority mining rights. According to the Oceanic Cobalt Crust Exploration Specifications, China's cobalt crust exploration consists of resource survey, general exploration and detailed exploration stages. After signing the contract, as there is no precedent experience for reference, China has independently developed a work schedule for the general exploration and detailed exploration stages through nearly 3 years of maritime encryption tests, and indoor theoretical summarization and exploration.

44 shallow drilling stations have been set up for the first time in this leg of voyage, separated by a space of 2 kilometers. The "Ocean No. Six" expedition team has solved equipment failures such as high-voltage insulation of drilling rigs and aging of valve boxes through careful deployment and construction. After 13 days of construction, the team has completed all design tasks. The total footage drilled is about 69 meters and the total length of core drilled is about 23 meters. These operations have effectively revealed resource endowment in some parts of the mine area, marked the highest number of drilling operations in a single leg over the years and the transition of China's cobalt crust exploration from a resource survey stage to a general exploration stage, and provided a practical basis for subsequent work arrangements, and a good start for China's waiving the first 1/3 area.