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Commitments and Contingencies
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Commitments and Contingencies [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

NOTE H – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Legal Proceedings

On April 16, 2012, the Kingdom of Spain filed a motion with the district court for an award of attorney’s fees and costs related to the “Black Swan” case. We are opposing the motion vigorously and have submitted substantial arguments in opposition. However, we cannot predict the court’s ruling at this time.

The Company may be subject to a variety of other claims and suits that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of business. Management is currently not aware of any claims or suits that will have a material adverse impact on its financial position or its results of operations.

Trends and Uncertainties

Our 2012 business plan contained assumptions which include several of our planned projects are being funded through project debt-type financings, syndications or other partnership opportunities. The business plan expenses included a 90-day charter agreement which we executed with a company to provide a ship and equipment to conduct recovery operations on the Gairsoppa and Mantola projects. The charter was extended for approximately another 30 days. We have recently renewed our term loan with Fifth Third Bank which increased our existing term loan from $3 million to $5 million through July 2013. We amended our senior convertible note and received an additional $8 million in May 2012. In July we executed an agreement with Fifth Third Bank which provided $10 million of Gairsoppa project financing collateralized with a portion of the silver from the project. We are expecting to receive cash proceeds of approximately $41 million from Gairsoppa silver sales in 2012. We are contracted to pay the United Kingdom approximately $5 million as well as approximately $15 million to Galt Resources, LLC. We also paid the Fifth Third Bank $10 million from the silver proceeds in October 2012. We are in the process of discussing other finance opportunities, including the renewal of the term and mortgage loans, with Fifth Third Bank for 2013. Based upon our current expectations, we believe our cash position will be sufficient to fund operating cash flows throughout the rest of 2012 and into the first quarter of 2013 taking into account our beginning cash balance, current cash flow expectations and revenues from multiple sources, including projected sales, syndicated projects and other potential financing arrangements. We have experienced several years of net losses resulting in a stockholders’ deficit. Our capacity to generate net income in future periods is dependent upon our success in recovering and monetizing high-value shipwrecks, realizing capital gains from our investments in other business opportunities or to generate income from mineral exploration activities, charters or other projects. However, it is likely that we could monetize a significant amount of cash from our existing shipwreck projects or the sale of equity in our mining projects in 2012 or 2013 which would fund our operations for future periods. If cash flow is not sufficient to meet our projected business plan requirements, we will be required to raise additional capital or curtail expenses. While we have always been successful in raising the necessary funds in the past, there can be no assurance that we can continue to do so in the future.