The exact value of these resources is impossible to calculate reliably, but a leading UN official described the scale of mineral deposits in the world's oceans as "staggering" with "several hundred years' worth of cobalt and nickel".

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David Kirkpatrick: I think anyone who wants to pin an exact value on it, is somewhat guessing, but I don't think it's insane to say that it could be worth 50bn or even by the time even a year or two rolls around 100bn, the company's earning potential is almost unlimited.

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The US Army Corps of Engineers said one contract would cover fields in the north of Iraq, and the other the south, with the exact final value dependent on the amount of work necessary.

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That was 18.7 per cent of the total which coincidentally (or not) was almost the exact amount the stock lost in value after the announcement.

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Estimating naming rights value is never an exact science.

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It is too early to judge the exact cause of this sharp fall in Google's apparent value.

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They suffer from the inability to recognize value and assume that all competitors can provide the exact same product at a lesser price.

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But the exact amount depends on your annual taxable income, age, value of your IRA and how much it appreciates after conversion but before you have to make a decision on how much to keep as a Roth conversion.

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The amount of money a company can raise is based on how investors value the company, which at some point must be linked to its earning potential (even if the exact business model isn't always completely clear).

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