The hunt for gold copper and other precious minerals is shifting to a new frontier: the ocean floor.
Mining companies have long known the world's ocean floor cover with vast sources of metals including zinc,silver and other commodities currently in high demand.
The global boom in commodity prices has encouraged mining companies to take another look at undersea mining.
Nautilus Minerals Inc ( Canadian company) has focused on deposits left over from " black smokers" or chimney shaped structures that form after underground magma pushes mineral-laden fluids trough cracks in the sea floor.
Neptune Minerals ( London based company) has launched its own deep-sea-minerals project off the coast of New Zealand and other offshore ventures may follow.
Bringing minerals to the surface poses a big challenge . On land, mining companies use excavators,trucks and other tools to dig up and haul it to processing center.
The key revenue source at Nautilus's first project will be copper that has gone up dramatically from 2002 levels.