—Knowledge of the methods and mechanics of 

 rock fragmentation under water. 



—Knowledge of whether underwater beneficiation 

 of minerals is feasible. 



D. Inadequate or Restrictive Legal Environment 

 for Private or Public Investment 



The legal environment in which hard mineral 

 resources may be explored and exploited is 

 summarily described in an earlier part of this 

 section. The present law relating to the Outer 

 Continental Shelf was designed in response to the 

 requirements of the oil and gas industry ; represen- 

 tatives of the mining industry say that the law is a 

 deterrent to hard mineral exploitation because a 

 company which spends money in exploration and 

 finds a deposit does not have the exclusive right to 

 exploit it, as it has on land. The Public Land Law 

 Review Commission is making a comprehensive 

 study of this and other problems relevant to the 

 OCS Lands Act and will make its report with any 

 recommendations it deems necessary to the Presi- 

 dent and Congress in 1970. 



More important, perhaps, is the situation in the 

 territorial waters of the States where offshore hard 

 mineral mining is most apt to begin. Because there 

 has been little or no actual offshore mining, State 

 laws generally do not provide for it. Some States 

 have no provisions for issuing offshore exploration 

 permits and there is a great deal of difference in 

 the regulations of the various States. These factors 

 lead to uncertainties in the minds of mineral 

 explorers concerning their prospecting and leasing 

 rights and constitute a deterrent to offshore 

 mineral development. 



E. Absence or Inadequate Level of Supporting 

 Services by State or Federal Government 



An important deterrent to offshore mining is 

 lack of knowledge of "what's out there" and lack 

 of adequate bathymetric maps on which to plot 

 basic information. Industry cannot afford the 

 expense of bathymetric charting and broad-scale 

 geologic studies, and existing programs of ESSA 

 and the Geological Survey are inadequate to get 

 the job done within the next 20 to 25 years, when 

 it will be needed. 



F. Restrictions on Private Research, Development, 

 and Production from National Security Policies 



Military restricted zones, such as submarine 

 transit lanes, occupy about six per cent of U.S. 

 coastal areas and non-military activities cannot be 

 carried out in these areas. With this exception, 

 there are no other restrictive factors stemming 

 from national security policies. 



G. Education and Training Requirements 



In the absence of firm estimates as to the 

 degree of offshore mineral exploration and exploi- 

 tation in future years, some idea of the education- 

 al requisites may be gained by a projection based 

 on an assumption of activity. In 1965, U.S. 

 offshore hard mineral production, including miner- 

 als extracted from sea water, was equal to 1.5 per 

 cent of onshore production. If it is assumed that 

 offshore production in 1985 will be 5 to 10 per 

 cent of onshore production the numbers of newly 

 trained professionals and technicians will be: 



Engineers 



Technicians, all types 

 Marine geoscientists''^ 



2050- 4,100 

 7800-15,600 

 850 



V. ROLE OF FEDERAL AND NONFEDERAL 

 GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE INDUSTRY: 

 COMPLEMENTARY AND COMPETITIVE 

 ACTIVITIES 



The role of government in the field of offshore 

 hard mineral resources as in the case of other 

 resources is to appraise, manage, and conserve. The 

 actual detailed exploration, development, and 

 exploitation of the resources is normally the 

 function of private industry. 



The petroleum industry, which because of 

 favorable geological and technological factors was 

 easily attracted into the marine environment, has 

 been self-sustaining with only minimal govern- 

 mental support services. The offshore hard mineral 

 mining industry may require, at least in the early 

 years, more substantial governmental assistance in 



Figure for marine geoscientists is that required to 

 make three-dimensional geological analysis of the conti- 

 nental margins. 



VIM 25 



