Development of the Deep Seabed Mining Regime

The existence of mineral-rich nodules on the floor of the deep seabed has been known about since the oceanographic expedition of HMS Challenger of 1872–76, but it was only in the second half of the twentieth century that commercial interest in the deep seabed evolved. This interest centered on the presence of an estimated 22 billion tons of polymetallic nodules, which contain fine-grained oxides of copper, nickel, cobalt, and manganese, located on the bed of the ocean at depths of approximately three miles. The exploitation of polymetallic nodules from the deep seabed had not been technically possible at the time of the First and Second Conferences. This situation rapidly changed in the 1960s as the range of ocean uses significantly increased through improvements in technology. At the time that the exploitation of manganese nodules became technically possible, the minerals found in the nodules were important to developing and developed countries alike where the latter were the greatest consumers and the former were the greatest producers. These resources were important for iron and steel production, in applications requiring high temperature resistant alloys, for corrosion resistance, and to strengthen alloy steel.

The development of the technology to recover manganese nodules coincided with the international movement to devise a New International Economic Order (“NIEO”), which was spearheaded by developing countries. Creating a legal regime for a new and important resource was an opportunity for these States to further the aims of the NIEO.