We must be wary of undersea mining

Source: The National, Tuesday 17th July, 2012
www.thenational.com.pg/letters

IT is human nature to tell stories and enjoy listening to them. Our stories or folklore are our source of learning.
Many of our stories were orally passed down over the generations to the present day.
They are both good and bad, make or break relationships, families, so­cieties or even a nation.
In a village, lived a story teller who was the eye of the community. He was in sync with nature and could read the signs of times.
He enjoyed his status, perks and privileges that came with it.
One day, the story teller went home and alerted his community of the dangers of tsunami.
He explained to them that a huge wave would come from the east any moment and destroy their entire village.
He told them to flee to the mountains. Without hesitation, everyone obeyed him and fled.
They waited for days without food but soon realised nothing happened and returned home.
After some time, the story teller again warned them to flee to the mountains or be killed by the tsunami.
Again the people took heed of his warning. But there was no tsunami and they returned to the village.
One day, the story teller received a warning of an impending tsunami.
He urged the clan elder to warn the people to flee to higher grounds.
But the leader no longer trusted him. Instead, he grabbed the story teller by the throat and clobbered him to death.
The warning was ignored and the villagers paid the price. The tsunami came and swamped the entire village.
By the time it receded, only a handful of people survived. The survivors lived on to tell us this story.
Today, we are again facing the same threat.
We have been warned by scientists, non-governmental organisation representatives, environmental activists and villagers to stop Nautilus Minerals and the government from carrying out sea bed mining at Solwara-1 area in the Bismarck Sea.
According to an independent environment impact study by University of Alaska’s Prof Richard Steiner, there are many flaws and dangers in undersea mining.
Dr Helen Rosenbaum et al’s re­port, “Out of our depth”, also repor­ted numerous other discrepancies related to this mining venture.
In a paid advertisement in July 2007 signed by Paul Daing, director of Bagabag Community Development Association and Rev Kinim Siloi of the Evangelical Lutheran church, the Bagabag islanders told the government and Nautilus Minerals that the 2,000-plus people of Baga­bag and surrounding outer islands in Madang province were against undersea mining.
They said they were neither consulted nor gave their consent.
“We will not allow this mine to destroy our marine ecosystem which we depend on for our survival and will take appropriate action to protect our way of life, our re­sources, and future generation.
“For 50,000 years, the people of PNG have lived a subsistence lifestyle in harmony with our na­-
tural environment.
“We have the right to determine our own destiny and at its own pace.
“Development in PNG should take place at its own pace and not be imposed by multinational corporations who see our resources as profits.
“The PNG government should put the interest and dreams of its people before that of outside interests.”
There are a several story tellers here warning and calling on the go­vernment to stop undersea mining, which is a first in the world, at Solwara-1 in the Bismarck Sea.
Is the government listening to these people?
Or is the government equally frustrated and angry with the story tellers and, in the process, kills the story tellers and its own people?
Will the government allow un­dersea mining to take place in its waters?
Will the government take heed of the warning and save our nation or to allow sea bed mining to go ahead?

Wenceslaus Magun
Port Moresby

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Nautilus/PNG continue talks

July 13, 2012 · 5:18 pm

Growing opposition to seabed mining

Patrick Matbob | Islands Business

Discussions between Nautilus Minerals and the state of PNG have failed to resolve a dispute that has halted the progress of experimental Solwara 1 seabed mining in PNG waters.

Nautilus has reported that a number of meetings have been held between senior representatives of the two parties and discussions would continue until a conclusion was reached.

Meanwhile, opposition to experimental seabed mining plans is growing in PNG and the Pacific region.

One of PNG’s vocal local environment group, Mas Kagin Tapani Association (known as Makata), has called on Nautilus to stop exploiting the pristine Bismarck and Solomon Seas with its experimental seabed mining. It has also called on the PNG state not to pay Nautilus the 30% equity which it was taking up in the project.

National coordinator for the local not-for-profit group Wenceslaus Magun said: “There is no justification for the PNG government to pay 30% to Nautilus.

“This foreign-owned corporation does not own the resources by birth right. They cannot ask the PNG government to make such a contribution to help develop their experimental seabed mining project.

“By doing so, would imply that Papua New Guineans will remain beggars on our own land: that we cannot determine our own destiny but allow outsiders, particularly the multi-billion dollar corporate industries, to dictate our future.”

The Canada-based Nautilus Minerals is in dispute with PNG as to the state’s obligations to complete the agreement reached in March last year for its Solwara 1 copper project.

Nautilus warned the dispute could delay or cancel the project which it is experimenting with in PNG waters. The company is the first to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits.

PNG had exercised its option to acquire 30 percent of the Solwara 1 project, located in the Manus basin of Bismarck Sea. As part of the agreement, PNG has to pay its share of the development cost for the mine.

Nautilus said: “Unless and until the dispute is resolved, completion will be delayed or may not occur and Nautilus must continue to carry these costs”.

However, PNG says Nautilus has not met certain obligations on which completion is dependent and that it has breached the agreement. Nautilus, however, has refuted the assertions.

The dispute has resulted in a dramatic 40% plunge in Nautilus shares.

The company also suffered another blow when its partner—European ship builder Harrens—announced it will no longer be able to contribute its full part to the financing of the mining support vessel as agreed in April 2011.

Harrens’ decision is a reflection of the debt crisis in Europe and the tighter bank lending rules and also the depressed shipping market.

Local and regional environmental groups and advocates have continued to oppose the development of seabed mining.

Author of a recent report ‘Out of Our Depth: Mining the Ocean Floor in Papua New Guinea’ Dr Helen Rosenbaum said that very little was understood about the possible impacts of the Solwara 1 project.

“They say they’ve continued to do research that addressed a lot of the concerns that we addressed in that report. But every time we’ve gone back to them to say, well can you share this research with us, we’ve been unsuccessful. So we’re totally unconvinced that this research has been conducted.”

Dr Rosenbaum said the campaign’s concerns were similar for the many projects in which deep-sea mining exploration was starting throughout the Pacific.

Recent discoveries by scientists of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand have shown that life was plentiful on the deep seabed despite arguments to the contrary.

The scientists have found more than 5000 samples and footage of never-before-seen undersea volcanoes after a three-week voyage in waters off  Bay of Plenty and north-east along the Kermadec Ridge.

The NIWA scientists studied four different undersea habitats-—seamounts, hydrothermal vents, continental slope and canyons within a 10,000-square kilometre area.

They found that life was plentiful on the seamounts, particularly around the hydrothermal vents. Little life was seen on the surface of the soft sediment on the seafloor of the canyons, but within the sediment were large numbers and many different types of worms.

Meanwhile, it’s been suggested that Pacific Islands Countries and territories wishing to make use of resources on the deep seafloor for economic returns must adopt a ‘precautionary approach’.

This can simply be interpreted as “in any development where there are threats of serious harm to the marine environment, the lack of full scientific data shall not be used as a reason for postponing that development,” said Dr Russell Howorth, director of the SOPAC Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

But, that particular development, he added should use cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.

The ‘precautionary approach’ has been in existence in Rio Declaration Principle 15 for 20 years but hardly used in the context of bringing economic benefits of the resources of Pacific islanders to improve their livelihoods, said Dr Howorth while addressing Oceans Day at the Rio+20 conference  in Rio de Janeiro last month.

Under Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992), the application of the Precautionary Approach is defined as: “In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by states according to their capabilities.

“Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”

Dr Howorth also revealed a ground breaking advisory opinion by the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea Seabed Disputes Chamber which ruled that the precautionary approach is a legal requirement for states sponsoring deep sea mining activities.

Be wary on experimental sea bed mining

By WENCESLAUS MAGUN

It is human nature to tell story and enjoy listening to stories.  Our stories, or folklore are our source of learning.  Many of our stories were orally passed down from generations to the present day.  Stories are both good and bad.  Stories make or break relationships, families, societies or even a nation.


In a village there lived a story teller.  He was the eye of the community.  He raised alarm and alerted the community about events, places, people and seasons.  This story teller was similar to the PNG’s police helicopter:  “Eye in the sky”.  He cautioned the community to take cover, be on guard or ready to attack. 

He was also always in communication with the nature.  He read the signs of times.  He understood the sounds of the birds, the crickets, the insects in the forest or at the shore and knew exactly what messages they sent.  By their sounds, smell or taste he could tell the enemy was near, or that there would be a death in the community.  He knew when it would rain, or when the dry season would begin by seeing the direction of the rising sun or the moon setting and the stars position in the sky.  

This story teller enjoyed his status. He also enjoyed the perks and privileges that came with it.  He loved going home at dawn or dusk and tell stories of what he saw and did or had discovered over the mountain top or had seen in his dream.  His stories earned him respect.   His people payed great attention and obeyed many of his advice.

One day the story teller went home and alerted his community of the dangers of tsunami.  He explained to them that a huge wave would come from the east any moment from now and will destroy their entire village.  He warned them to take all their belongings and flee into the mountains. 

Without hesitation, the community obeyed his warnings and fled high up into the mountains.  They waited for days without food but soon realised that there was no tsunami and so they returned home.

After some time, the story teller again warned them to flee to the mountain top to avoid being swept away, drowned or be killed in the tsunami.  And again the communities took heed of his story.  Yet again there was no tsunami.  They returned to the village and rebuilt their homes, resettled and continued their normal lives. 

Then one day, it so happened that the story teller received a real warning of tsunami.  He went to his clan leader and urged the clan elder to blow the shell or beat the garamut (dug out wood used for communication) and warned the community to flee to higher grounds.  But the clan leader by then no longer trusted in his story.  He grabbed him by his throat, and clobbered him to death.

The story teller’s warning was thus ignored and the villagers stayed on in their village happy to see their clan leader dishing out punishment to the deceitful story teller.  Sadly, their refusal to take heed of their story teller’s warning came with a price.  Tsunami had arrived.  It’s huge surge of waters engulfed the entire village drowning everything in its path as it swept across the coastline and taking with it countless lives and destroying huge properties.  By the time it stopped, and receded back to sea, the entire village population and all their properties were wiped out.  Tsunami had left only a few handfuls of villagers who by luck or by some form of miraculously intervention survived this ordeal.  These lucky survivors lived on to tell this story to us.

Today we are at the cross roads.

We have been warned by scientists, non-government organisation representatives, environmental activists, and villagers sharing in the bounty of the marine resources in the Pacific to stop Nautilus Minerals Ltd and the Government of Papua New Guinea from their experimental sea bed mining at the Solwara 1 area in the Bismarck Solomon Seas.

According to an independent Environment Impact Study by Professor Richard Steiner, from the University of Alaska, the Environmental Impact Study by Nautilus Minerals Limited has a lot of flaws.  Dr. Helen Rosenbaum et al’s report in the “Out of our depth” also reported numerous other discrepancies related to this experimental sea bed mining venture. (See Nautilus seabed mining experiment falters and www.deepseaminingoutofourdepth.org;www.bit.ly/nodsm;www.deepseaminingoutofourdepth.org;www.bit.ly/nodsm; deepseaminingpacific; twitter.com/NoDeepSeaMining; facebook.com/Save PNG’s endangered turtles; and maskagintapani.blogspot.com, links). 

In  a paid advertisement, in July 2007 signed by Paul Daing, director of Bagabag Community Development Association and Reverend Kinim Siloi of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Bagabag Islanders have called on the GoPNG and Nautilus Minerals Corporations Ltd that the 2,000 plus people of Bagabag and surrounding outer islands in Madang Province are absolutely against undersea mining.

They said that they have not been consulted nor given their consent for the operations of this mine.  Amongst other issues raised they argued that:

“We will not allow this mine to destroy our marine ecosystem which we depend on for our survival and will take appropriate action to protect our way of life, our resources, and future generation.

“For 50,000 years, the people of PNG have lived a subsistence life style in harmony with our natural environment.  We have the right to determine our own destiny and at its own pace.  Development in PNG should take place at its own pace, and not be imposed by multinational corporations who see our resources as profits, and the PNG government should put the interest and dreams of the people of PNG before that of outside interests.”

There are a few story tellers here dishing out warning and calling on the PNG government to stop experimental sea bed mining at Solowara 1 in the Bismarck Solomon seas.

Is the PNG Government listening to the story tellers?  Or is the PNG government equally frustrated and angry at the story tellers and is adamant to kill the story tellers and its own people? Will the PNG Government allow experimental sea bed mining to take place in its waters?  Will the PNG Government for the last time take heed of the warning from the story tellers and save our nation by not allowing Nautilus Minerals Limited to go ahead and carry out its experimental sea bed mining?