Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities

The Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (popular as CRAMRA) is a treaty that is part of the Antarctic Treaty System. The convention was concluded at Wellington on 2 June 1988. The government of New Zealand is the depository of the treaty.^[1]

The convention was signed by 19 states, but none have ratified it. Originally intended as "an international mining framework [...], which sought to regulate any possible future resource extraction",^[2] the treaty eventually faced backlash by France and Australia and was never ratified. It established property rights and gave special privileges to seven claimant states – including the UK. Focus later shifted from possible resource extraction to environmental protection, the CRAMPA was shelved and in 1998 the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol)^[3] came into force. Therefore, the convention never entered into force.