This will be the first project of its kind to assess the genetic resources in the nodule province.

According to the 624 samples recovered from the sea floor, the average nodule coverage is 7.8 kg m2 in area W and 13.5 kg m2 in area E, and the nodule resources of the total area amount to 1,830 million tons, with nickel, copper and cobalt altogether comprising 46.6 million tons.

During the meeting, the Secretary General stressed the importance of this project as a means of facilitating better knowledge of polymetallic nodule resources in the CCZ.

During the first half of 2005, the Secretariat has continued with its efforts to develop a geological model of the polymetallic nodule deposits of the CCZ.

The workshop also recommended a work programme leading to the establishment of a reliable geological model of polymetallic nodule deposits in the CCZ within three or four years.

The guide will also provide data and information on all known nodule deposits in the CCZ with a focus on the high resolution characterization of specific deposit sites.

With the exception of available manganese iron ratio data, the contractors did not agree to authorize the Authority to make use of nodule abundance and metal content data from their contract areas.

This phase of the Kaplan Project addresses its second objective, which is to investigate and study disturbance and recolonization processes at the sea floor following mining track creation and plume resedimentation in the abyssal nodule provinces.

(e) Establishment of a geological model of polymetallic nodule deposits in the Clarion Clipperton fracture zone of the equatorial north Pacific Ocean proceedings of the workshop of the International Seabed Authority, 13 to 20 May 2003, Nadi, Fiji.

The application is based on prospection data collected from 1976 to 1978 by the German consortium Arbeitsgemeinschaft meerestechnisch gewinnbarer Rohstoffe (AMR) within the scope of the polymetallic nodule investigations under the auspices of the Ocean Management Inc. (OMI) consortium.

Taking into account the results of the Fiji workshop, the group of technical experts identified the approach that it would use to create the model, and specified which proxy data would be tested for use in predicting nodule grade and abundance.

At its meeting during the tenth session, the Legal and Technical Commission considered and evaluated the third set of annual reports submitted by contractors pursuant to the Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Nodules in the Area ( the Polymetallic Nodule Regulations ).

The Commission reviewed the draft regulations, which were based on the existing Polymetallic Nodule Regulations and the model clauses developed by the secretariat in 2001,20 together with the elements that had emerged from the discussions in the Commission during 2002 and 2003.

The Commission completed its deliberations on the draft regulations on the general understanding that, as far as practicable, the new regulations should follow the framework of the Polymetallic Nodule Regulations and be in conformity with the provisions of the Convention and the 1994 Agreement.

It was agreed that the primary outputs from the project will be a geological model of polymetallic nodule deposits in the CCZ and a prospector's guide containing a narrative description of the key factors relevant to exploration for polymetallic nodules in the CCZ, including data and available information on known deposits.

In the same report, the Secretary General also reported on progress with respect to international collaboration on, inter alia, the determination of levels of biodiversity, species range and gene flow, and disturbance and recolonization processes on the sea floor following mining track creation and plume resedimentation in the abyssal nodule provinces.

Following the Secretary General's report to the tenth session of the Assembly on the work of the Authority, a number of positive developments have taken place with regard to the project to establish a geological model and prospectors guide of polymetallic nodule deposits in the Clarion Clipperton fracture zone (CCZ) in the Pacific Ocean.

As currently envisioned, the geological model of the polymetallic nodule deposits in the CCZ will consist of a set of digital and hard copy maps and tables describing predicted ore grade and abundance and associated error estimates as well as complete documentation that describes testing procedures for the model and all algorithms used in producing the final model results.

Part of the procedure for model development is that when a specific data set (which may include one or more candidate proxy variables) and associated mathematical algorithms are proposed for inclusion as a proxy for abundance and or grade, it will be calibrated with one subset of the available nodule grade and abundance data and then tested with another subset.

On behalf of the German Federal Government, the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) is submitting an application for the exploration of polymetallic nodules in two distinct areas in the Pacific nodule belt (see figure) area W ( 13 N 137 W 34,080 km2 4,850 m average water depth) and area E ( 12 118 W 115,896 km2 4,200 m average water depth), covering a total area of 149,976 km2.