Of all the planets regions, Antarctica is the most inaccessible and the most desolate. It is the only region on Earth that all nations agreed they could share. But now the Antarctica is being considered by many nations as a future source of natural resource as other sources have started to run out.

The Antarctica is slowly losing its reputation as the land of seals, ice, and penguins; and is gaining a new status as a region of iron, coal and of course, oil. The international cooperation of scientific research in the region could well be replaced by the more nationalistic activity of natural resource acquirement, leading to confrontation.

The scientists based in research centers in the Antarctic have praised the decades of international cooperation and sharing in bases such as the main U.S Antarctic facility. The cold, hostile environment is said to bring people closer and they cope with the challenges it brings together, and they all share a passion for the work they are doing.

The work of Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd and his vision for the Antarctic has lead to a park being dedicated to him outside the National Science Foundation McMurdo building headquarters. Admiral Byrd led five expeditions across and was the first to fly over Antarctica and the South Pole. His vision was that the Antarctic could be an example of successful international cooperation and a region where different nations could live together peacefully with the common goal of scientific research. But are his noble visions likely to survive in a world that has become reliant on the Earth's minerals?

There is little known about the Antarctic's mineral deposits but there is now growing interest. The Antarctic was an issue for scientists to deal with but it is now one that politicians are taking more interest in. The existence of large quantities of minerals and also oil may lie waiting to be discovered under the frozen landscape and beneath the treacherous seas.

Considerable quantities of oil reserves and minerals have been found in continents that resemble Antarctica geologically. Offshore drilling by the U.S.A has already confirmed that hydrocarbon deposits are very likely to exist. Coal deposits and iron along with concentrations of metallic minerals including lead, tin, titanium, gold, copper, nickel, chromium and uranium have already been confirmed on land.

The huge expenses involved with the exploitation of the Antarctic due the difficult environment has made it unthinkable until now. This is changing with rising prices and new technology. And environmentalists and Antarctic scientists are worried.

The idea of mineral exploitation in the region is one of great concern to environmentalists throughout the world due to the continent being one of the few regions left that are untouched and unpolluted by humans. The commercial mineral exploitation will most certainly cause great damage to the environment and environment groups including the International Institute for Environment and Development and the Sierra club are well aware of this conflict.

The organizations believe some exploration of the mineral deposits is needed to assess what resources there are but these explorations must include an assessment of the environmental damage that any exploitation will cause. What fears them is that the results of the studies will then encourage the development. What causes the most concerns is oil drilling due to the chances of an oil spill. Most life in the Antarctic, such as the birds and seals are gathered on the coasts and would be severely affected. In colder climates oil doesn't easily break up and degrades at a slower rate, so an oil spill there would be extremely damaging, more so than anywhere else.

The landmark 1959 treaty set Antarctica aside as a scientific preserve and controls a lot of the activity that goes on there. The 12 original signatory nations, who were later joined by Poland, administer the continent jointly and have closed it off to military activity, nuclear weapons testing and radioactive waste disposal. The treaty has successfully side stepped any overlapping land claims. Many countries including Great Britain, Australia, , New Zealand, France, Chile, Norway and Argentina all claim territory within the Antarctic.

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