ABSTRACT
The mineral resources of the Pacific region are derived almost exclusively from land-based sources. Unlike the energy flows, hard minerals are much less dependent on the passage through straits. The ubiquity of the nodules, the rate of accretion, and the great mineral concentrations suggest that the mining and processing of these minerals should be commercially feasible. Hawaii and the Kiribati on the west and Mexico on the east. But manganese nodule crusts and pavements rich in titanium and cobalt are associated with volcanic island chains such as the Marianas and the Hawaiian archipelago. Maltese Ambassador Arvid Pardo's original United Nations resolution, which set off the UNCLOS negotiations in the early 1970s, declared the resources of the ocean to be "the common heritage of mankind." The developed State may be interested in developing marine minerals as a new source of supply, but not be capable of marine mining for many years.
