Deep Seabed Resources
Activities of the International Seabed Authority
The existence on the deep ocean floor of potentially valuable polymetallic nodules has been known for more than a century. Scientists investigating these rocks, also known as manganese nodules, found that they contained valuable metals such as nickel, manganese, copper, and cobalt. About the shape and size of potatoes, the dark-colored nodules lie strewn atop the seabed, notably in the central Pacific and Indian oceans. At first, because these nodules were located in very deep water, more than 5,000 meters (three miles) below the ocean surface, commercial mining was not considered viable. By the 1960s, however, with advances in technology,…
