PNG mine proceeding without public consent - campaigners

Transcript

A campaign group says the Papua New Guinea government is going ahead with an experimental new seabed mine without the consent of the people.

The Canadian company, Nautilus Minerals is set to go ahead with its Solwara One off the coast of New Ireland - which will be the world's first extraction of minerals from the seabed.

Christopher Gilbert reports.

The mine is set to go ahead once Nautilus acquires all of the necessary equipment, including a vessel, following the settlement of a dispute between the company and the Papua New Guinea government. Nautilus' chief executive, Mike Johnston, says although it's both the company's first mine, and the world's first seabed extraction of minerals, it's not entirely untested.

MIKE JOHNSTON: It'll be at a water depth of about 1,600 metres and a part of our studies into the project we've done cutting tests on the surface at 1,600 metres at Solwara 1 itself. We did that back in 2006 so a number of aspects of it we've already done.

The Deep Sea Mining Campaign has been spearheading opposition to the project. Its spokesperson, Natalie Lowery, says although Nautilus is a relatively new company, it has big corporate backers.

NATALIE LOWERY: The bigger companies watch the smaller companies go in and see how it plays out I guess. It's a bit of a trial and that's why Papua New Guineans and people across the Pacific see themselves as guinea pigs. They see this as an experiment that's been imposed on them.

PNG mining minister, Byron Chan, says the government has a 15 percent stake in the project and stands to take at least 300 million kina, or 124 million US dollars from the project. He says he hopes the project will improve the fortunes of New Ireland.

BYRON CHAN: That's why I'm managing this project and guiding it along and hope that my people, my district, my province, also benefit from this project.

Mr Chan says his constituents have been well consulted about the mine.

BYRON CHAN: My constituents have been continuously consulted. So the people are well aware that the project will go ahead.

But Natalie Lowery says although Papua New Guineans have been consulted they haven't granted their consent.

NATALIE LOWERY: The community voice in Papua New Guinea, across Papua New Guinea and also across the Pacific against what they're calling 'experimental seabed mining' is massive. It's very disappointing that the Papua New Guinean government still hasn't responded to a petition that was handed to them in October 2012, I think it was, where over 25,000 Papua New Guineans petitioned to say they didn't want Nautilus didn't want to go ahead with the Solwara mine.

Nautilus chief executive, Mike Johnston, says the mine looks to be the most environmentally friendly one he's worked on in a 30 year career. But Natalie Lowery says the company's environmental impact report was seriously flawed and the work will put both ecosystems and coastal Papua New Guinean society at risk.