Published July 29, 2025 | Version v1
Dataset Open

Dataset for the Map of Critical Raw Materials Offshore Occurrences and Deposites of Europe 2024

  • 1. ROR icon Instituto Geológico y Minero de España
  • 2. Geological Survey of Spain (IGME-CSIC)
  • 3. EDMO icon Hellenic Survey of Geology & Mineral Exploration
  • 4. Norwegian Offshore Directorate
  • 5. ROR icon National Laboratory of Energy and Geology
  • 6. EDMO icon National Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics, Lisbon, Division of Marine Meteorology
  • 7. EDMO icon Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Operational Directorate Natural Environment, Belgian Marine Data Centre
  • 8. Geoinform of Ukraine
  • 9. ROR icon Polish Geological Institute
  • 10. EDMO icon Geological Survey Ireland
  • 11. ROR icon Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland

Description

The map shows the Critical Raw Materials (CRM) occurrences and deposits associated with the different marine minerals of the European seas, based on the 2023 CRM list of the European Commission. The dataset was compiled in 2024 with contributions from national and regional Geological Survey Organisations as part of the EU-funded Geological Service for Europe (GSEU) project. The initiative aims to provide harmonized geoscientific data across Europe. Offshore minerals are represented by cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, polymetallic nodules, seafloor massive sulphides and hydrothermal mineralization, phosphorites and marine placers. The nature of these minerals is in most of the cases polymetallic with enrichments in several CRM. Mineral deposits, based on preliminary studies, are sized (super large, large, medium and small) according to their total endowment – estimated by the sum of cumulated resources (a concentration or occurrence of material of economic interest in such form, grade or quality and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction) and reserves (the economically mineable part of a mineral resource) for the commodity concerned. Note that this dataset constitutes a geological assessment of the main CRM occurrences and deposits in European seas. It does not consider any aspect associated with infrastructure, mining, metallurgy, processing, transport of ore, and ignores socio-economic and environmental conditions. Most importantly, the presence of a mineralization and the identification of a mineral deposit do not warrant its extractability in the future.

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Additional details

Funding

European Commission
GSEU - A Geological Service for Europe 101075609