I’m betting there’s enough oil and gas there to last 1,000 years and rare earth materials beyond your wildest dreams.
Based on the location of other known diatremes, combined with plate tectonics, I’ve been predicting diamond finds in the Antarctic for 40 years. The highly productive diamond-producing areas of Australia were conjoined with Antarctica before the break-up of Gondwandaland. In fact the diatremes may have been caused by the break-up.
Antarctica could see a population boom
What does the Antarctic Treaty say about mining?
There has never been any commercial mining in Antarctica thanks to the Antarctic Treaty which has completely banned mining under the Environmental Protocol. When the original treaty was signed in 1959, mining was not incorporated let alone formally discussed. The mining issue was first raised in 1970 by the UK and New Zealand who had been approached by mineral companies who were interested in exploration in the Southern Ocean.
Between 1982 and 1988 a set of tough environmental protection measures were set out under the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA). Under the convention, mining could take place if all parties agreed that there was no risk to the environment. The aim of the convention was to have a framework in place in the advance of any future mining. In 1989, France and Australia refused to sign the convention, saying that no mining should be allowed to take place in Antarctica - period. CRAMRA never entered into force but helped to provide the framework for the Environmental Protection Protocol. This entered into force in 1998.