136 



compete directly with the U.S. offshore ex- 

 ploration dollars. Our continental shelf will 

 not be explored by private industry, if it ap- 

 pears that ore deposits can be discovered and 

 more profitably recovered elsewhere. 



The Conmiission recognizes the validity of 

 these arguments, given the present state of 

 our knowledge of subsea minerals and cur- 

 rent means for their discovery and recovery. 

 At the present level of risk, it is unlikely that 

 sufficient interest could be generated on Outer 

 Continental Shelf Lands Act mining leases 

 (except perhaps for known deposits) to sup- 

 port competitive bidding. On the other hand, 

 the present situation will not continue for- 

 ever. The survey and technology programs 

 recommejided by the Commission are de- 

 signed to open opportunities for profitable 

 exploitation attractive to many firms. The 

 procedures established under the Outer Con- 

 tinental Shelf Lands Act have worked well 

 under these threshold conditions and should 

 not be lightly, abandoned. 



Furthermore, the entire subject of mineral 

 development rights on public lands and the 

 outer continental shelf is currently under in- 

 tensive review. The Public Land Law Review 

 Commission (PLLRC) will report to the 

 President and the Congress in June 1970. Im- 

 portant questions have been raised before the 

 PLLRC as to the desirability of continuing 

 claim-staking on public lands ashore. We 

 would hesitate in this situation to rec- 

 ommend the system's extension into a 

 new environment. 



As illustrative guidelines for an improved 

 system to assign exploration and develop- 

 ment rights for hard minerals on the U.S. 

 continental shelf, the Commission oifers the 

 following: 



• The system should seek to encourage 

 exploration. 



• The system's primary objective should not 



The Federal Government should 

 continue its role in the assessment 

 of marine mineral resource 

 potentials. As an example of such 

 tvorl:. the Bureau of Mine's research 

 ressel Virginia City has recently been 

 surveying seafloor mineral deposits 

 off Alaska. 



be to maximize near-term Federal income 

 from rents, royalties, or bonuses but rather 

 the aggregate net economic return to the 

 nation from ocean mining activity. This 

 objective can be accomplished only by 

 building a healthy ocean mining industry. 

 • The system should take into account the 

 fact that the United States faces competi- 

 tion from other nations that may offer to 

 lease their offshore mineral rights on terms 

 more attractive to U.S. capital. 



The Government will face diversified situ- 

 ations with respect to the development of 

 hard minerals on the outer continental shelf 

 for which it will need a variety of policies. 

 For example. Government-sponsored scien- 



