St. Pete Beach,
Florida, USA
9 - 13 NOVEMBER, 2025
Underwater Minerals Conference
The World's Largest Gathering of Ocean Mineral Stakeholders
The Underwater Minerals Conference (UMC) is an annual international forum, with representatives from over 25 countries that since 1970 has brought the marine minerals community together. UMC is the world’s largest gathering of ocean mineral stakeholders, including government, academic, and commercial sector
professionals. Topics considered for the conference include:
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Geological and biological studies of marine minerals deposits and their associated biological communities.
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Regulatory considerations related to mineral resource and environmental impact assessment.
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Technological considerations related to scientific survey objectives and commercial recovery objectives.
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General policy considerations related to the long-term development of these resources.
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Other relevant topics.
UMC 2025 - The 53rd Underwater Minerals Conference is presented by the International Marine Minerals Society (IMMS) in partnership with the government of the University of South Florida. This year's Technical Program Chair is Dr. John Wiltshire, president of IMMS.
The Conference will be held in-person at the Sirata Beach Resort, in St. Pete Beach, FL, USA.
Registration Dates 2025
Early-bird
Registration
March 4 - August 29
Regular Registration
August 30 - October 26
On-Site
Registration
From October 27
Photo credit: Geomar
UMC 2025 Focus
Deep Horizons: Bridging Science, Technology, and Sustainability
As manganese nodule mining grows even closer to fruition, it becomes ever more important to have regulations based on prudent and well-grounded science. Deep-sea mining raises concerns. Some of these are well-founded and others are frivolous. For miners, it is critical to substantially address real environmental issues and show how they can be managed or mitigated. At the same time, it is prudent not to waste funds on irrelevant conjecture. At UMC, we will attempt to highlight new findings and show where accurate material can be fed into regulations to smooth the path forward and tamp down needless controversy.
UMC 2025 DETAILS
UMC provides a platform for researchers, business leaders, governing authorities, and other stakeholder to share about different national policies on underwater minerals exploration, research findings on different regions of the ocean and the development of new technologies that can help better manage operations underwater.
UMC 2025 will be held at the Sirata Beach Resort, located directly along the Gulf of Mexico waters of St. Pete Beach, Florida. The 13-acre resort provides an amazing experience of walking straight from their room or the pool onto the resort’s beach and delectable waterfront dining options.
Home to America's Best Beaches, a vibrant arts community and amazing outdoor experiences, St. Pete Beach is a sunny destination that travelers adore. In fact, we were named among the top 100 most-loved travel destinations in the world! And Forbes recently named St. Pete among its "Best Places to Travel in the U.S."!
A sparkling gem on Florida's Gulf coast, St. Pete-Clearwater has the perfect ingredients for your best vacation yet: beautiful beaches
vibrant arts, family fun and superb
food and drink scene. Come and experience Tampa Bay's best getaway spots for yourself!
UMC happens once a year and provides an indispensable source of information and exchange of ideas between the ocean mining industry, the government institutions, the non-profit organizations and academia. It has a scientific focus where the active marine mining players can learn more about the advances in ocean minerals science. The Underwater Mining Conference is the World’s largest gathering of Ocean Minerals Stakeholders.
UMC grows every year with more participants, never seen research and information, and unique networking opportunities. You don't want to miss it!