papua-new-guineas-seabed-to-be
August 7,
2012 · 6:06 am
Papua New Guinea’s seabed
to be mined for gold and copper
Government approves world’s first commercial
deep-sea mining project despite vehement objections over threat to marine life
Oliver
Milman | The Guardian
A “new
frontier” in mining is set to be opened up by the underwater extraction of
resources from the seabed off the coast of Papua New Guinea, despite vehement
objections from environmentalists and local activists.
Canadian
firm Nautilus Minerals has been granted a 20-year licence by the PNG government
to commence the Solwara 1 project, the world’s first commercial deep sea mining
operation.
Nautilus
will mine an area 1.6km beneath the Bismarck Sea, 50km off the coast of the PNG
island of New Britain. The ore extracted contains high-grade copper and gold.
The
project is being carefully watched by other mining companies keen to exploit
opportunities beneath the waves.
The Deep
Sea Mining (DSM) campaign, a coalition of groups opposing the PNG drilling,
estimates that 1 million sq km of sea floor in the Asia-Pacific region is under
exploration licence. Nautilus alone has around 524,000 sq km under licence, or
pending licence, in PNG, Tonga, New Zealand and Fiji.
“PNG is
the guinea pig for deep-sea mining,” says Helen Rosenbaum, the campaign’s
co-ordinator. “The mining companies are waiting in the wings ready to pile in.
It’s a new frontier, which is a worrying development.
“The big
question the locals are asking is ‘What are the risks?’ There is no certain
answer to that, which should trigger a precautionary principle.
“But
Nautilus has found a place so far away from people that they can get away with
any impacts. They’ve picked an underfunded government without the regulation of
developed countries that will have no way of monitoring this properly.”
The
mining process will involve levelling underwater hydrothermal “chimneys”, which
spew out vast amounts of minerals. Sediment is then piped to a waiting vessel,
which will separate the ore from the water before pumping the remaining liquid
back to the seafloor.
The DSM
campaign has compiled a report, co-authored by a professor of zoology from
University of Oxford, which warns that underwater mining will decimate deep
water organisms yet to be discovered by science, while sediment plumes could
expose marine life to toxic metals that will work their way up the food chain
to tuna, dolphins and even humans.
“There
are indirect impacts that could clog the gills of fish, affect photosynthesis
and damage reefs,” says Rosenbaum.
Activists
also claim that an environmental analysis by Nautilus fails to properly address
the impact of the mining on ecosystems, nor explains any contingency plan
should there be a major accident.
Wenceslaus
Magun, a PNG-based activist, told the Guardian that local fishing communities
are concerned about the mining and are planning to challenge the exploration
licence.
“We are
really concerned because the sea is the source of our spirituality and
sustenance,” he said. “The company has not explained to us the risks of deep
sea mining. They haven’t responded to my requests for information.”
“The
government has turned a blind eye to the concern of its own people. We are
mobilising people to raise funds to take this to court and retract Nautilus’
licence.”
However,
proponents of deep-sea mining point out that it is potentially far less
damaging than land-based extraction.
“The
material is very high grade so you have to mine less in order to get the same
amount of metal,” said Chris Yeats, a geologist at CSIRO, the Australian
government’s scientific arm. “At those depths there are bacteria, but there’s a
cut off at around 1,000m where most fish are, so it should have little impact.”
“Unlike a
terrestrial mine, you don’t have to build infrastructure such as roads and you
don’t displace people. You chop off one of these venting chimneys and another
one will grow back, so it’s a little like the mining equivalent of cutting
grass.”
Steve
Rogers, the CEO of Nautilus, said the company had gone through a “rigorous”
study of environmental impact over the past six years.
“This
will be a relatively small footprint compared to a mine on land, on an area
about the size of a dozen football pitches,” he said. “We’ve sought out the
best scientists in the world. We aren’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s
eyes.”
“This
isn’t in a fishing area and won’t impact coral. Even if it were in a fishing
area, it won’t affect that upper area where the fish are.”
Rogers
said that Nautilus had contacted 15,000 local people in PNG to hold workshops
on the project. The company estimates that the 30-month first phase of the
mining will bring $142m(£92m) in benefits to the PNG economy, with a plan to
employ 70% of the project’s staff from the country within three years.
Despite
these assurances, the project has been delayed by an undisclosed commercial
dispute between Nautilus and the PNG government, which is currently under arbitration
in Sydney.
The PNG
government has come under fire for taking a 30% equity stake in the project,
which will require it to contribute about $25m(£16m) towards infrastructure,
provoking accusations of a flagrant conflict of interest.
In
return, PNG will receive $40.8mn (£26m) in tax from a project estimated to
generate $1bn(£642m) although Rogers said revenue would be “a long way short of
that”) along with a 30% return on what is still a highly experimental mining
process.
“It was
the government’s choice to take a stake, we didn’t ask them to do it,” says
Rogers. “I’d stress that the government isn’t threatening any of our mining
permits. We’re disappointed to be in a dispute with the government but I’m
confident we will resolve this.”
What
isn’t in dispute is that the mining industry is starting to eye major
opportunities on the seabed.
“A number
of governments are exploring for minerals in this way, such as Russia, Japan,
China and the UK,” said Rogers. “It will take time, it’s not a gold rush, but
the demand in increasing.”
Yeats
added: “As the global population increases, we’re likely to see large-scale
marine mining. How far away that is depends on how successful they are. But we
will have to turn to the 70% of the world we currently aren’t mining for
minerals.”
