The diplomatic row between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland Islands has long interested me. I have always been sceptical that the real reason behind our interest is the potential for oil and gas deposits along the sea and ocean floors. Just think of the size of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. We haven’t scratched the surface of what could possibly exist down in the deep.
Now we can see the emergence of the new frontier in mining the oceans.
British firm, UK Seabed Resources a subsidiary of Lockeheed Martin has joined the rush to exploit minerals in the depths of the oceans. It has plans for a major prospecting operation in the Pacific.
The company says surveys have revealed huge numbers of so-called nodules - small lumps of rock rich in valuable metals - lying on the ocean floor south of Hawaii and west of Mexico.
The exact value of these resources is impossible to calculate reliably, but a leading UN official described the scale of mineral deposits in the world's oceans as "staggering" with "several hundred years' worth of cobalt and nickel".
An expedition to assess the potential environmental impact of extracting the nodules will be launched this summer amid concerns that massive "vacuuming" operations to harvest the nodules might cause lasting damage to ecosystems.
Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21774447
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