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Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

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ELCS region Location Hydrate<br />

potential<br />

Coastal States<br />

Madagascar<br />

19 Southern Madagascar Low<br />

Mozambique<br />

South Africa<br />

35 Southern Tasmania Low Australia<br />

Australia<br />

39 Tasman Sea Low<br />

Mew Zealand<br />

(French<br />

Caledonia)<br />

Elsewhere, the potential for gas hydrate formation is probably<br />

negligible as a resource, although much research is needed to establish the<br />

occurrence of BSRs or other indicators of hydrate presence.<br />

Exploitation of gas hydrates has potential hazards, since the stability of<br />

hydrates has been implicated in the stability history of continental slopes. Any<br />

activity that may uncontrollably destabilise gas hydrate layers through<br />

changes of pressure and temperature must be viewed with caution until the<br />

technology for safe exploitation of hydrates is in place. Until such<br />

technologies are developed, all gas hydrate resources must be considered submarginal.<br />

5. Conclusions<br />

This report examines the non-living resource potential within the<br />

extended legal continental shelf (ELCS). These areas lie beyond the 200<br />

nautical mile jurisdiction of nation states’ exclusive economic zones, and their<br />

outer limits are defined by the criteria established by the United Nations<br />

Convention on the Law of the Sea, Article 76.<br />

The offshore non-living resource potentials described in this report are<br />

based on a statistical evaluation of known occurrences and reserves, the<br />

geologic environments favourable for their formation, models for sediment<br />

type and thickness, and basement composition. The result is an assessment of<br />

the potential for non-living resources to occur.<br />

IINTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 734

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