While deep ocean mining could potentially be the source of enormous wealth for Bermuda, the challenges to its exploitation include the potential of environmental damage, the requirement for improved technical resources to retrieve those resources and concerns that the entire community benefits from the economic proceeds of the industry.

Mr Hutchings said: “It’s going to be the crusts that are of particular economic interest to start with, and the top of the sea mounts are also going to be areas of particular ecological and environmental interest. Living on these sea mounts are deep sea communities of rare deep sea animals that are poorly understood.

“The fear is, in our rush to get these rare earth elements, that we are going to cause wholesale destruction to these communities.”

He said the answers would come from the joint efforts of professionals in the environmental and technical specialities.

Mr Hutchings also pointed to the societal issues: “ ... how to ensure equitable benefits to society that owns the minerals.

“There are a lot of discussions to be had.”

He said: “The next step is commercial exploration — we need geological and technical research to define the size and grade of the resources.” He said there should also be a scoping study in respect to the environmental impact. “It is wrapped up in a technical report, and once you have the technical report, you transform the rocks on the sea bed to assets on a balance sheet.”

Technical reports are not a new idea — they are a requirement in many nations who mine for resources, he said.

If the results are as he expects, and with the interest burden on Bermuda’s debt then dropping by tens of millions of dollars per annum: “That could be immediately reinvested to strengthen Bermuda’s social fabric,” he said.

“The report would cost a couple of million. And tens of millions could be reinvested in strengthening Bermuda’s social fabric, schools, social services, education and probably most important of all, jobs programmes.

“The sooner Bermuda does this, the better off the island will immediately be.”