Scientists call for regional coordination of seabed mining
The scientific community is calling on Pacific Island countries to adopt a collaborative approach to developing sea bed mining in the region.
Transcript
The scientific community is calling on Pacific Island countries to adopt a collaborative approach to developing sea bed mining in the region.
Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea are making the biggest strides in the new frontier, with Nautilus Minerals in PNG saying it expects to go into production in the Bismarck Sea in 2018.
While the Cook Islands this month opened up bidding for mineral exploration licences covering tens of thousands of square kilometres of the sea-floor within its exclusive economic zone.
But scientists around the region say Pacific Island countries should not be working in isolation.
Koroi Hawkins has more
MALCOLM CLARK: It is not going to happen overnight but there will be a considered and coordinated regional approach.
Malcolm Clark is a principal scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. He says as far as progressing sea bed mining goes, Pacific Islands countries should avoid going it alone
MALCOLM CLARK: Because those 200 mile limits around a lot of the islands are only boundaries on paper. What happens in one country can well affect the waters of another country. And so it is a case of making sure that there is a level of coordination amongst the countries.
The Cook Islands is among the more advanced Pacific nations who have put in time and money to studying and understanding their undersea resources. Last week the country announced open tenders for licences to explore its seabed for minerals. A move its Finance Minister Mark Brown says is an important step forward for the country.
MARK BROWN: It would sort out those companies that are serious in wanting to invest in exploration to find out a bit more about the industry and developing the industry. But longer term the Cook Islands and its people would like to be in a position to be able to exploit the wealth that sits within our EEZ. But to do it in a way that ensures the sustainability of our environment, but also to do it in a way that ensures that the Cook Islands gets a fair return from the minerals that it does have within its boundaries.
But civil society organisations across the Pacific remain unconvinced and some are joining a growing international call for a moratorium on mining exploration of the sea-floor. The Pacific Network on Globalisation and the Bismarck Ramu Group in Papua New Guinea are particularly worried about the rapid pace at which PNG is moving towards being the first country in the world to carry out seabed mining. The Pacific Network on Globalisation's campaigns officer Joey Tau says the only fact that scientists agree on is that not enough is known about the potential effects of seabed mining.
JOEY TAU: We have had on-shore mining in the region and they have been disastrous for us. But for the for mining the seafloor it has never been taken place anywhere and we don't know the level of or the extent of the impact on our lives and on our people who the ocean is their main source of providing.
But some academics say the exploratory phases of seabed mining could actually help fill gaps in the existing knowledge base. Barry Barton who is a Professor of Law at the University of Waikato says sharing the findings of potential prospecting operations in the Cook Islands could be beneficial for the rest of the region.
BARRY BARTON: At the early stages there is going to be a lot of benefit to be had in getting to understand the ocean resources and the ocean environments of the Cook Islands. So there is an element of opportunity at a minimum to start getting environmental baseline information to guide decision makers of the future.
Nautilus Minerals is a company at the coal face when it comes to sea bed mining. Its operation in Papua New Guinea's Bismarck Sea is scheduled to go into production in early 2018 which would make it the World's first fully operational seabed mine site. Its Chief Executive and President says the allure of seabed mining is its low set up cost, the ultra-high grade of the ore and the fact that the entire operation can be packed up and moved from location to location. Mike Johnston says his company has been planning the Bismarck operation since 2006. He says all of the independent environmental impact studies carried out over the years have consistently shown that the effects of the operation on the marine environment will be minimal.
MIKE JOHNSTON: The total area directly impacted by mining is less than point one of a square kilometre. Down on the sea-floor where we are operating at, at 1500 metres the impacts that are expected from the mining projects do not extend outside the mining lease. One of the good points of the project is that there are no tailings associated with our sea-floor mining project which is pretty much unheard of for mining.
But NIWA's Dr Malcolm Clark says no matter how positive such projections may seem the advice from the scientific community remains the same.
MALCOLM CLARK: Things need to happen slowly, there has got to be an emphasis on collecting baseline information so we need to know exactly what is, what's there and establish programs to monitor the changes as the exploration phase progresses. And whether there can be a reasonable balance achieved between exploiting the minerals and ensuring the environment is not damaged.
And with Papua New Guinea set to launch the worlds first sea-floor mine in 2018 and the Cook Islands exploratory minerals tender process already attracting interest from Europe, Canada and Asia. It will not be too long before scientist will be able to analyse the true benefits and effects of sea-floor mining in the region.
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