Manganese nodules lying on the ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction and containing such strategic minerals as cobalt, copper, manganese and nickel are currently considered to constitute the highest-valued deep ocean mineral resource and regarded by many as the "common heritage of mankind". Not surprisingly, the exploitation of minerals from the sea- bed was one of the most controversial issues discussed at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea from 1973 to 1982, which led to the adoption of a new Convention on the Law of the Sea in Jamaica in December of 1982. However,...