Article presents the methodology for operational research on the polymetallic nodules mining value chain and the assessment of crucial factors influencing its feasibility. Value chain has been analyzed and boundary assumptions having a substantial influence on the decision making process were identified. Geological, technical, economic, environmental and legislative components are related within the unambiguous framework of their functional interactions. Several decision-making tools are presented and the system of SWOT analysis was applied to identify positive and negative aspects. It should be understood, that project conditions are unique for particular evaluated mineral deposit and evaluation is linked to a particular time period.
The deep seabed became one of the most potentially rewarding frontiers challenging mankind in minerals exploration. Mineral resources found in deep seabed area represent potential for enormous contribution to the world resource base and their exploitation can affect world metal markets. In 2013, International Seabed Authority (ISA) commenced the development of regulations to govern the future exploitation of seabed minerals, starting with polymetallic nodules (PN).
Deep sea mining (DSM) activities represent value chain similar to the structure of activities performed in land-based mining. However, there are no deep seabed mining activities yet on commercial scale (excluding oil and gas mining, where today's technology allows to extract gas and oil from water depths of almost 3000 meters). Existing offshore mining operations are performed in shallow waters up to 500 meters depth (tin, diamonds, phosphate rocks).
Before DSM commencement it is necessary to investigate the potential sequence of steps for the purpose of developing legal frameworks for future exploitation and business models creation. Value chain analysis can be applied to study how work selection, planning, scheduling and execution can drive different business approaches to close-to-optimal solutions, when considered as elements of a chain. Those solutions can be related to the available options in scope of technical means, legal frameworks, taxation schemes, CSR policies and building of an overall enterprise model. This approach could also offer an important alternative for the evaluation of enterprises in the absence of real-life data from operations involving direct competition, as is the case of deep seabed mining (Abramowski, 2016).
