Desarrollo de la Antártica

Phillip Law I POSSIBILITIES FOR EXPLOITATION OF ANTARCTIC RESOURCES mineralization found on the Lassíter Coast in the Antarctic Penín– sula, may be worth more investigation. Uranium ore was reported by the Japanese in Greater Antarctíca. ,Consider now that would involved if some rich ore body were to be discovered. We already have the teohnical knowledge and sufficient understanding of the Antarctic environment to enable us, at a price, to mine the ore and bring the products back to civilised countries. Obviously, though, the ore must be extremely rieh and reasonably accessible. Secondly, it can be assumed that only ores which can be easily concentrated on the spot will be worth mining, for the cost of shipping raw ore would be prohibitive, as also would be the cost of establis:hing complex refining plants in Antarctica. Ores suoh as gold (the most desirable) and copper, silver, tin, lead, zinc, are the obvÍous ones that come to mind, but rarer metals suGh as tantalum and osmiridium, owing to their high unit value, would be worth considering. 'rhe difficulties to be faced would then be, first, the establishment of harbour facilities and a township at a suitable ¡point on the coast; next, the building of a mine and its associated town– sihip at IJhe site of the deposit; then the provision of adequate transport facilities between the mine and the point on the coast; fourthly, me provision of adequate power (and 1 think nuclear power would be essential) ; next, the provísion of spedal cargo ships strengthened for .use in ice and possibly the need for icebreaken also. Then there is the short summer season, approximately two monvhs, during which ships can call to collect the concentrates, and finalIy the stverity of the climate in general. Transport by aircraft would solve a number of problems, but would raise others. All these difficulties ;have been tadk.led and solved in Norway, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Recently a lead mine was established on North Baffin Island in the Arctic. However, none of these would ,present the level of difficu1ty which would be met in Antarctica. There are few coastal sites suitable for use as ports and no one has yet attemptted to provide harbour facilities anywhere in Antarctica. The location of any mine would almost certainly be at a consider– able distance inland from a port, probably at a íhigh altitude amongst mountain ranges. Transport over this distance would probably be over snow and ice, with the usual hazards of crevasses and blizzards. Temperatures at tlhe port would range between -40°F and + 40 Q 'F, but the temperature range of the ínland mine would be much lower (from -80°F or -IOOOF in winter up to -30 oP or even lower in summer). There could be strong winds oE up to 130 m.p.h. in coasta! 29