§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will indicate in some detail the general areas where manganese nodules are locatable and the size of the areas of seabeds involved; and if he will list those islands in the Pacific Ocean that are located within or near to areas where manganese nodules are known to exist.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldThe evidence available suggests that about 15 per cent of the ocean floor—55 million square kilometers—may be occupied by manganese nodules but that only a small proportion of such nodules are of sufficient grade and abundance to make their recovery commercially interesting at the present time. Most interest focuses on an east-west belt of the Pacific Ocean lying between latitudes 60°30' N and 20° N, with Clarion, Clipperton and Revillagigedo Islands at its eastern end and the Hawaiian Islands near its western end.