Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/294363
42 www.resourceworld.com A P R I L / M A Y 2 0 1 4 Dynacor Gold's Acari mill at Huanca, southern Peru. Photo courtesy Dynacor Gold Mines Inc. forts made on behalf of the international community in hopes of balancing on the one hand the increasing claims by states for sovereign rights over greater marine zones, and on the other hand the funda- mental concept of the common heritage of mankind attributed to the high seas. These customary practices were first codified in four separate multilateral conventions in 1958. Although these conventions still remain in force, the UNCLOS elaborates a more comprehen- sive and universally accepted regime and 165 states have ratified or acceded to the treaty. A stated purpose of this treaty is to promote a just and equitable interna- tional economic order by developing and codifying principles for the proper allo- cation of resources and responsibility for seas and oceans. The convention provides for the preferred method of establishing coastal baselines, the delimitation of the territorial sea and contiguous zone, the right to innocent passage over these wa- terways, the exclusive economic zone, as well as the extended continental shelf. While the UNCLOS encompasses the cus- tomary practices of the law of the sea, it also elaborates a regime that permits rati- fying parties to extend their continental shelf, and in turn their economic rights, up to a 350 nautical mile limit or up to 100 miles from the 2,500-metre isobaths. Those parties looking to expand their coastal rights, as is the case in the Arctic Ocean, must comply with the methodolo- gy set out in Section 76(8) of the UNCLOS. After they have made submissions based on equitable geographical representation, the CLCS will make recommendations to each coastal state for the outer limits of its continental shelf. Once established, these limits will be final and binding and the coastal state shall have sovereign rights to the exploration and exploitation of the natural resources of the seabed and sub- soil of its extended continental shelf. Where states with opposite or adjacent coasts wish to delimit their continen- tal shelf, the UNCLOS dictates that the delimitation shall be effected by way of agreement between the states. If the states are unable to reach agreement within a MINING