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ognizes in the coastal nation with respect to the mineral resources 
in and beneath the adjacent bed of the sea? 
2. Seaward of the exclusive jurisdiction of the coastal state, determined 
by the Convention on the Continental Shelf, is it necessary at this 
time to establish any formal regime to govern mineral exploration 
and production? If so, what should be the objectives and structure 
of such a regime? 
II. CRITERIA FOR OPTIMUM MINERAL DEVELOPMENT 
1. Objectives of mineral legislation 
Our principal concern in this Report is to identify the requirements 
for bringing into productive use the minerals located beneath the oceans. 
The mineral deposit which remains undiscovered, or, being discovered, 
remains undeveloped, is as useless to man as though it did not.exist. 
The world-wide experience of nations has demonstrated that a suc- 
cessful system of mineral development laws, whether operating on land 
or under the sea, should have these objectives: 
(1) To encourage the discovery and putting to work of the world’s 
minerals at the lowest cost to consumers consistent with a fair return 
to the investor and with the maximum ultimate recovery of those 
minerals, having in mind the needs of future generations as well as our 
own. 
(2) To bring about maximum ultimate recovery by encouraging con- 
servation—in the sense of wise use—both of the minerals themselves 
and of the natural forces, such as reservoir energy, which are required 
for their production; conversely, to deter the physical waste of the 
world’s mineral estate. 
(3) To facilitate access to minerals, on a non-discriminatory basis, 
by all responsible interests. 
(4) To reconcile competing uses of the environment and minimize 
the adverse effect of mineral operations on that environment. 
2. The essentials which a mineral regime 
must offer to bring about development 
To accomplish the objectives that we have identified, it is not enough 
to articulate them in statutes or conventions. 
