30 U.S.C. § 1417
Each license for exploration shall be issued for a period of 10 years. If the licensee has substantially complied with the license and the exploration plan associated therewith and has requested extensions of the license, the Administrator shall extend the license on terms, conditions, and restrictions consistent with this chapter and the regulations issued under this chapter for periods of not more than 5 years each.
Each permit for commercial recovery shall be issued for a term of 20 years and for so long thereafter as hard mineral resources are recovered annually in commercial quantities from the area to which the recovery plan associated with the permit applies. The permit of any permittee who is not recovering hard mineral resources in commercial quantities at the end of 10 years shall be terminated; except that the Administrator shall for good cause shown, including force majeure, adverse economic conditions, unavoidable delays in construction, major unanticipated vessel repairs that prevent the permittee from conducting commercial recovery activities during an annual period, or other circumstances beyond the control of the permittee, extend the 10-year period, but not beyond the initial 20-year term of the permit.
30 U.S.C. § 1417
- Administrator
- "Administrator" means the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
- commercial recovery
- "commercial recovery" means-(A) any activity engaged in at sea to recover any hard mineral resource at a substantial rate for the primary purpose of marketing or commercially using such resource to earn a net profit, whether or not such net profit is actually earned;(B) if such recovered hard mineral resource will be processed at sea, such processing; and(C) if the waste of such activity to recover any hard mineral resource, or of such processing at sea, will be disposed of at sea, such disposal;
- exploration
- "exploration" means-(A) any at-sea observation and evaluation activity which has, as its objective, the establishment and documentation of-(i) the nature, shape, concentration, location, and tenor of a hard mineral resource; and(ii) the environmental, technical, and other appropriate factors which must be taken into account to achieve commercial recovery; and(B) the taking from the deep seabed of such quantities of any hard mineral resource as are necessary for the design, fabrication, and testing of equipment which is intended to be used in the commercial recovery and processing of such resource;
- licensee
- "licensee" means the holder of a license issued under subchapter I of this chapter to engage in exploration;
- permittee
- "permittee" means the holder of a permit issued under subchapter I of this chapter to engage in commercial recovery;