Stephen Ball, chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin UK, owner of UK Seabed Resources, says the engineering experience of offshore oil and gas operations and the trend to rising mineral prices have now combined to make seabed mining feasible.

BBC: UK Seabed Resources joins deep-ocean mineral-mining rush

Given the growing distaste for offshore drilling in the wake of the ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the coal mining group could receive added attention as a viable alternative.

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