The Earth Science Series of the Circum-Pacific Funding for ship time was made available through Council for Energy and Mineral Resources (CPCEMR) the U. S. Agency for International Development, the is designed to convey the results of geologic research in USGS, the U. S. Office of Naval Research (for RIG's and around the Pacific Basin. Topics of interest include 1982 work), the Australian Development Assistance framework geology, petroleum geology, hard minerals, Bureau, the Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources geothermal energy, environmental geology, volcanology, (BMR) , the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, oceanography, tectonics, geophysics, geochemistry, and the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial applications of renewable energy. The CPCEMR sup Research (DSIR), the New Zealand Geological Survey, ports and publishes results of scientific research that will and the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute (NZOI). Coordination of the program was provided by the U. S. advance the knowledge of energy and mineral resource potential in the circum-Pacific region. The Earth Sci Department of State and the South Pacific Applied Geo ence Series is specifically designed to publish papers that science Commission (SOPAC, formerly the United include new data and new maps, report on CPCEMR Nations-sponsored Committee for the Coordination of sponsored symposia and workshops, and describe the Joint Prospecting for Mineral Resources in South Pacific results of onshore and marine geological and geophysical Offshore Areas CCOP/SOPAC) in Fiji. Over 150 scien explorations.

This comprehensive book contains contributions from specialists who provide a complete status update along with outstanding issues encompassing different topics related to deep-sea mining. Interest in exploration and exploitation of deep-sea minerals is seeing a revival due to diminishing grades and increasing costs of processing of terrestrial minerals as well as availability of several strategic metals in seabed mineral resources; it therefore becomes imperative to take stock of various issues related to deep-sea mining. The authors are experienced scientists and engineers from around the globe developing advanced technologies for mining and metallurgical extraction as well as performing deep sea exploration for several decades. They invite readers to learn about the resource potential of different deep-sea minerals, design considerations and development of mining systems, and the potential environmental impacts of mining in international waters.