Marine Science Affairs 



tion totaled 1 .63 trillion cubic feet, slightly less than 6 percent of Free World 

 demand. Ten years ago only five countries conducted offshore drilling; 

 today over 80 countries are interested in the resources of their Continental 

 Shelves. 



Income to the Federal Government derived from offshore leases and 

 royalties is discussed in Chapter VII. 



The demand for minerals is also increasing rapidly. The U.S. domestic 

 demand for many minerals is expected to double by 1985 and perhaps triple 

 by 2000. Between 1966 and the year 2000, world consumption of non-fuel 

 minerals may increase five-fold. Competition for the world's mineral resources 

 will become more intense as industrialization of the developing countries 

 progresses. 



While the mineral industries of the United States are among the most 

 heavily capitalized and technologically advanced, the combination of high 

 wage scales and depletion of high-grade domestic reserves of some minerals 

 is making the United States a high-cost mining economy. In recent years 

 domestic mining industries have frequently encountered difficulty in com- 

 peting with cheaper foreign sources of supply. Clearly, in the future, if 

 mineral demands are to be satisfied without increase in market cost, larger 

 quantities of some commodities will have to be imported. At the same time, 

 in important instances, the United States produces minerals that compete 

 successfully for markets abroad. 



Cumulative U.S. and world demand versus U.S. and world reserves and 

 resources for about 30 mineral commodities that may occur on the Conti- 

 nental Shelf is depicted in Table II-6. It is evident from these data that new 

 sources of supply for many mineral commodities will be needed to meet the 

 projected demands and insure the security and economic viability of the 

 United States. 



The oceans represent such a potential source. Extensive deposits of 

 phosphorites; metalliferous muds rich in copper, zinc, and other metals; man- 

 ganese nodules containing cobalt, nickel, and copper; gold, tin, platinum, 

 and other heavy minerals; and sand and gravel exist on and beyond the 

 Continental Shelf. But present knowledge of the extent of these resources 

 and their distribution is limited. 



The growing worldwide demand for resources, the unexplored areas of 

 the Continental Shelf with geological continuity with adjacent land areas 

 which have yielded mineral wealth, and the scattered positive indications 

 that resources exist, all direct attention to learning more about non-living 

 resources under the sea. The Continental Shelf is thus a logical focus for a 

 new era of systematic surveys to determine the presence, distribution, and 

 richness of seabed deposits. 



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