Show BUSINESS and Ind till the STOCK MARKET by B dABSON'S REP REPORTS INC Copyright 1973 1873 LA LAG IN DEVELOPMENT OF SE SEABED MINERALS Several years ag ago it U wits was fondly hoped that when the Vietnam war ended Uncle Sam could be pers persuaded to turn atten atten- and tion-and to money-to the effective development development develop develop- ment of our natural resources This was before we were so pressed by the current fear of food shortages resulting from the devastating Mississippi floods and before today's critical energy shortage had emerged Bu But even then it was widely recognized that we were neither fully lully nor sensibly capitalizing on the power ower resources under the land or the wealth of minerals under the sea In tn the National Interest tn tn agricultural production we are the envy envy of the world Despite our blunders In hi the field of price supports-blunders supports which have cost us us many billions of dollars these past thirty five y years years-we we ars-we have set scores scores' of f. f world records In agricultural output In the process we have also built up a sizable chemurgic industry turning to profitable use byproducts byproducts byproducts by by- products J of farming once considered useless Yet there JS' JS is much to be done to I make our land more more fruitful and our use of agricultural wastes more productive and ecologically sound We should think more arid and do more- more about the mineral store within easy reach along our thousands of miles of coastline Once we are entirely relieved of the Vietnam onus we would be wise to enlarge upon the small beginnings so far made in exploring the seabed along our shores and extracting the mineral mineral min min- eral wealth encrusted there Need ls la Pressing In his energy message to Congress President Nixon went on record in support support sup sup- port of government subsidies to encourage encourage age more offshore drilling for oil to help ease euse our our growing supply energy-supply crisis Many were disappointed d that he did not propose a a larger role for the federal government in encouraging discovery discovery dis covery and extraction of offshore minerals min min- The need for a augmenting our mineral mineral min min- eral resources is pressing We are steadily stead ily more dependent on foreign sources for the metals and minerals we need to keep us strong industrially and mil Even the small beginnings in oceanographic ocean ocean- studies already made suggest that a minerals marine industry of huge potential could be developed But exploration exploration exploration ex- ex is costly and risks are for Government encouragement via tax Incentives tives or other subsidies would be required for us to mount an adequate adequate ade quate exploration development development program Oceanographic Studies We have already undertaken a anum number num ber of studies calculated to help us fathom the secrets of the sea On both the mainland coasts and in Hawaiian waters local capital has financed construction construction con con- and use of water deep-water gence Bence vessels for observation of the ocean oc oc- ean can floor loor One such vessel was built for use of the Swiss oceanographer Dr Jacques for his observation journeys beneath the Gulf Stream from Miami north to Nova Scotia On the West Coast somewhat comparable comparable com parable explorations have been carried out with the help of technologists from the US U.S. Bureau of Mines and experts from the office of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Breakthrough Not Imminent We need however to learn much more about the character and extent of the mineral cache sea and how best to extract it U. U As things stand now it is too costly to dredge up minerals miner als from the seabed and transport them to refineries and markets markels To make this economically feasible we will have to develop more know how and more soph soph- v 4 i t machines and tools Venture capital for this type of undertaking undertaking- which at at best will not pay quick or big is dividends-is hard to come by Without Without With With- out more government help and on a massive the scale scale breakthrough we seek will hardly come till ill toward the end of this century Only a huge type NASA Washington involvement could possibly ensure any great strides within the next ten to fifteen years |