The process of recovering mineral wealth from seawater and from deposits on and under the seabed. While the world's demand for mineral commodities is increasing at a rapid rate, most of the developed countries have been thoroughly explored for surface outcroppings of mineral deposits. The mining industry has needed to improve its capabilities for exploring and exploiting low-grade and unconventional sources of ore. Corresponding advances in oceanography have highlighted the importance of the ocean as a source of minerals and indicated that the technology required for their exploitation is in some cases already available.