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MINING IN ANTARCTICA Although there is a treaty stating that mining is illegal in Antarctica for at least the next 30 years, there are many people who are trying to lift the ban. I believe that the ban should not be lifted, because of the millions of problems it would cause, both economically and environmentally. The majority of the continents oil is found underneath the seabed. Offshore mining still needs extensive developing onshore for living quarters, pipelines, airstrips and all other facilities needed. The animals would be competing with all of this everyday. A colony of penguins, for example, wouldn’t stand a chance against prospectors and miners. You can’t divide Antarctica into who gets what. Imagine the wars which could happen with countries fighting over the oil and claims on who gets to mine where. It would be a disaster. The war on Iraq at the moment is all about fighting over oil; it would be exactly the same, except a whole lot colder! Transport to and from the continent would be very expensive alone, and how