South Korea has secured exclusive rights to explore manganese crust in the western region of the Pacific Ocean.
 
The government said Wednesday that it received final approval from the International Seabed Authority to manage an area of three-thousand square kilometers in the Magellan seamount trail of the western Pacific.
 
Around 40 million tons of manganese crust are estimated to be buried in the area. The government expects the mineral reserves will help South Korea replace six-trillion won worth of imported minerals for 20 years.
 
South Korea has now secured exploration rights for all three main seabed mines, which also include manganese nodules and seafloor hydrothermal deposits.
 
The only countries other than South Korea that have secured exploration rights for all three are China and Russia.
 
Manganese crust is created when metal in sea water is absorbed onto a seamount at depths of 800 to two-thousand-500 meters. It is nicknamed an "underwater bonanza" because it contains metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese which are used as industrial materials.