The award of exploration contracts last month for valuable minerals by the 165-member International Seabed Authority, which regulates deep-sea mining activities, approved exploration plans for cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts by both China and Japan. China won the contract partly because it had been surveying in the region over the past 15 years, according to Chinese marine authorities. It has built up a large fleet of survey vessels with deep-reaching robotic and manned submersibles, giving state leaders unprecedented confidence in China’s ability to harvest the earth’s undersea riches. Read More
