Cobalt, nickel, and copper in ore minerals of cobalt-bearing ferromanganese crusts from the Magellan Seamounts of the Pacific Ocean

566 Many aspects of oceanic cobalt bearing ferroman ganese crusts (CMC) and crustal concretions (CC) have been studied well. Among them are abundance and conditions of their occurrence on seamounts, internal structure, mineral and chemical composi tions, and age [1–7]. The problem of chemical forms of the occurrence of economically valuable metals, mainly cobalt, nickel, and copper in the composition of CMC and CC, is still insufficiently studied. This is very important, because during the next decade Russia plans to start their mining in the northern sector of the Pacific Ocean. In this paper we report the results of experiments on the interaction between crustal forma tions and aqueous solutions of electrolytes. These results allow us to estimate the forms of the metals mentioned in ore minerals.