Russia to explore Pacific seabed: The International Seabed Authority and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation this week signed a 15-year contract in for the exploration for cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts within the Magellan Mountains in the Pacific Ocean. Cobalt has become integral to aircraft design on account of its excellent resistance to corrosion and wear, even at high temperatures. While there could be as much as 170m tons of ore in the area, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Denis Temples warned that at a depth of five kilometres, extracting some of these would be as likely as something out of a book by science fiction writer Alexander Belayev (sometimes described as Russia’s answer to Jules Verne).