From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Sun May 11 2003 - 19:06:25 MDT
Ron h. inquired:
<<Spudboy,
Could someone help me with this. In the real late 50s and the 60s the
engineering magazines used to run many stories about developmental and
exploratory work being done to develop deep sea mining. According to the
magazines there was ready access to metals on the ocean floor but we had to
develop the techniques for harvesting the metals.
One day I noticed that interest had dried up. I asked around and was
told that it was the UN Treaty that had killed the interest. If companies
had to divvy up with the UN and all the nations of the world they weren't
interested -- there wasn't enough profit to share with everyone.
Does anyone know the full story?
Ron h.>>
My take is that if there was a profit to be justified, no UN treaty would
stand in the way of the hunger for profit. I believe that back in the 60's
and 70's there was the expectation that manganese nodules and such were going
to be in great demand, for the later 20th century. In truth, other sources
for raw materials have been found, demand has shifted to plastic parts for
auto bodies, especially. The hunt for oil and perhaps natural gas and gas
hydrates is the motivator that drives this interest today, not metals. Oil
and natural gas is the mantra we need to be chanting to comprehend this
phase.
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