History Folder

There is a long and interesting history of deep sea mining projects in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone; from the operations of the Kennecott Consortium in the 1970s, through to ongoing work by The Metals Company.

The Hughes Glomar Explorer was built in 1973 with the stated role as a deep sea mining production support vessel. However, this was a cover-story that hid a more fascinating role in the cold war.

Project Azorian was a huge covert CIA operation that combined deep sea mining, a billionaire industrialist, a sunken submarine, and cold war espionage.