Precautionary Management of Deep Sea Mining Potential in Pacific Island Countries - DRAFT

Abstract

Since the early 1970s, exploration of the deeper sea floor has produce indications of wide-spread metallic mineral commodities, spread across large sections of the Pacific region in association with the "ring of fire"tectonic plates. Similar resource potential has also been indicated for offshore eastern African countries, in South Asia along the eastern Indian continent; in the Atlantic Ocean; and even western continental North America. What has emerged is a proposed set of mining extraction operations that represent a very new type of industry, characterized as Deep Sea Minerals Mining (DSM) by virtue of the great depths at which these minerals occur.