Cook Islands may extend deep sea mining exploration

Cook Islands government will consider extending the exploration phase for deep-sea mining to gather more comprehensive data and ensure informed decision-making about the potential environmental impacts.

Prime Minister Mark Brown has revealed that there is a possibility of extending the exploration time frame beyond five years, depending on the satisfaction derived from the data and findings of the three companies conducting the exploration of the country’s seabed.

The Prime Minister’s comments follow a call from the environmental group Ocean Ancestors calling for moratorium on deep sea mining and further independent research.

Cook Islands is currently in its third year of a five-year exploration phase to determine the feasibility of deep-sea mining for polymetallic nodules rich in cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese.

As part of the exploration process, the three deep sea mining companies must review the associated environmental risks and if they can prove that mining is viable, the government will award them a mining licence.

In an interview with Cook Islands News, Brown confirmed that there might be a need to extend the five-year time frame in order to seek a complete report and findings on the seabed exploration.

“It will depend on how long it takes for the companies to provide us with the information that we need and that they need to provide us with as part of the terms of their exploration licence,” the Prime Minister said.

“So their term of their licence is five years, but it could be they might need to extend it in order to complete the work that they need to do, which includes an environmental impact statement, which is not an easy piece of work.”

Brown explained that the environmental impact statement provided by the licenced companies will include a pre-feasibility study for the type of trialling and testing of equipment they will do.

“There are a number of boxes they need to tick off before these can be used, and before the government can be satisfied on making a decision on whether to issue the harvesting licences.”

Alanna Smith, director of environmental NGO Te Ipukarea Society, said the Cook Islands “definitely” needed an extension to the exploration phase beyond the current five years.

Smith added that it should be very obvious to Prime Minister Brown and the Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) that an extension is necessary.

“The Cook Islands definitely needs an extension of exploration work within our waters, TIS would recommend at least a minimum of 10 years extended exploration ensuring independent research is also being carried out by non-mining companies,” Smith said.

“Research needs to have an emphasis on studying biodiversity/environmental data.

Smith said that less than 1 per cent of the deep ocean ecosystem in the Cook Islands had been studied.

Extended time to better build on the knowledge in this deep under sea environment would help the country make informed management decisions, she added.

“We would hope that an extension would also result in our government being more balanced in their community consultation, not just speaking to the value chain or the potential financial gains that would come from this industry.

“Our people need to be equally made aware of what’s potentially at risk with this industry, short term/long term risks so we are well informed on the matter to make informed decisions on whether the Cook Islands people want to proceed with deep sea mining or not.”

According to Smith, extending the exploration phase would also allow people to study technical roles in this space, so they could become lead researchers or technicians to guide the management of this industry, if it were to proceed at all.

“This will all take significant amount of time,” she said. “We are not ready yet, the minerals are not going anywhere. Let’s wait.”

Written by Talaia Mika | Published in Environment, National