Chief Executive Officer: James M. Cairns, Jr.. Businessman involved in worldwide international minerals exploration, particularly for diamonds, for over twenty years. Involved in the financing and structuring of several diamond and metal exploration projects in the United States and Canada including evaluation of the Crater of Diamonds State Park and several other diamond prospects near Murfreesboro Arkansas. President: Dr. Stewart A. Jackson, Ph.D., in Geology, University of Alberta, Canada. Author of several scientific publications. Over 38 years of involvement in minerals exploration and development. Responsible for the discovery and development of several major mineral discoveries, including the Red Dog multi-billion dollar zinc deposit in Northwestern Alaska for Cominco Resources, Inc. Involved in the discovery of the Borealis, South McCoy and Manhattan gold deposits in Nevada for Houston Oil and Minerals Corporation. Founded Crown Resources Corporation then discovered and developed several gold deposits in Northeastern Washington State. Chief Scientist: Dr. Steven D. Scott, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University. Professor and Director, Scotiabank Marine Geology Research Laboratory, University of Toronto, Canada. Twenty-five years of research experience on polymetallic sulfide deposits on land. Sixteen years experience at sea. Co-discoverer of several seafloor hydrothermal sites and a pioneer in their examination and interpretation. Author of numerous papers on seafloor deposits and ocean mining. Consultant to the mining industry and presenter of numerous short courses in several countries. Principal Scientists and Engineers: Dr, Robert Ballard, Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, Graduate School in Oceanography Ph.D. Marine Geology and Geophysics, President, Institute for Exploration Sea Research Foundation Mystic, Connecticut; Emeritus, Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, Mass; Founding Chairman of the Board JASON Foundation for Education, Walthan, Mass; Chairman of the Board Odyssey Corporation, Old Lyne, Conn; Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve; Explorer-in-Residence National Geographic Society. Dr. Graeme Cairns, Research Geophysicist, CNRS France and logging technician, Ocean Drilling Program. Six years marine experience. Several published papers. Developing marine electromagnetic surveying systems and also responsible for other geophysical technologies. Dr. Michael J. Cruickshank, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin. University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, mining engineer. Over thirty-five years experience working on all facets of marine minerals for industry, government, and academia; extensive experience working on projects in the South Pacific; more than 100 publications on the topic of marine minerals. Dr. Jim Franklin, Ph.D., University of Western Ontario, Canada. Recently retired from the Geological Survey of Canada as its Chief Scientist. Similar land and sea experience to Dr. Steven Scott. Prolific author and international speaker. Consultant to the mining industry. Dr. Peter Herzig, Professor and Chair of Economic Geology and Dean, Faculty of Geosciences, Geo-engineering and Mining, Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, Germany. Seventeen years of experience in exploration for marine mineral resources, in particular gold-rich massive sulfides. Various research projects on land-based massive sulfide deposits. Discoverer of the Conical Seamount epithermal gold deposit off-shore Papua New Guinea. Author of numerous papers on seafloor deposits and ocean mining. Consultant to the mining industry. Dr. Richard Hutchinson, Emeritus Fogarty Professor, Colorado School of Mines. Distinguished career in the mining industry and academe. Prolific author. Numerous professional awards. Serves as Chief Geologist for Deep Sea Minerals to provide comparative guidance with land deposits. Dr. Charles L. Morgan, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin. Independent Consultant, Honolulu, Hawaii. Specialist in environmental and regulatory concerns; senior scientist for Lockheed ocean mining program; drafted programmatic environmental impact statement for marine mineral development in the U.S. Hawaii Exclusive Economic Zone; chairman, Underwater Mining Institute; sole U.S. representative, United Nations Seabed Authority Legal and Technical Commission. Dr. Michael Cruickshank, marine mining engineer and Director, Marine Minerals Technology Center, University of Hawaii. Thirty-eight years experience on marine minerals in industry, government and academe. Served on a number of US national committees dealing with offshore issues, including resources. Prolific author. Writes regular column on ocean mining in the trend setting journal Sea Technology. Dr. Oskar Zaborsky, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii. Extensive experience in the area of biotechnology; founded U.S. National Science Foundation program on biotechnology; founded University of Hawaii Marine Biotechnical Engineering Center; over fifteen years working in the field with governments, academic institutions and industry; extensive publications in the field. Dr. Roger Moss, MSc, doctoral student and consulting geologist. Four years experience in exploration with Anglo-American in South Africa and Canada. Six years marine experience including robotic and manned submersibles dives. Presently completing doctoral degree on precious metals in seafloor deposits Dr. Donald Scott, BASc, consulting marine geophysical engineer to Marine Sonics Technology in Virginia and other companies. Eleven years of marine experience. Holder of several patents. Currently responsible for software development and field deployment of a high resolution side scan sonar and other imaging systems of the type that will be used for our seafloor mapping.