Cooks to continue support of UN seabed mining process
PRIME Minister Mark Brown said: “This will help provide Government with the vital data and information it needs about our deep sea marine environment and the potential impacts of mining to make an informed decision about whether to proceed any further.
“We will continue to follow the process we have set for ourselves and at our own pace.” Polymetallic nodules are said to be rich in cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese – all key materials used in the manufacturing of batteries that proponents of seabed mining say will help fuel a clean-energy boom.
According to one estimate, the Cook Islands’ exclusive economic zone may contain as much at 10 billion tonnes of nodules. But a handful of multinational corporations, including Samsung and BMW, have signed up to a World Wildlife Fund call for a moratorium on seabed mining.
Nauru is a sponsoring state for Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Metals Co, which was formerly known as DeepGreen. The Pacific Blue Line, a collective of regional NGO’s, issued a statement on Wednesday saying Nauru’s decision ignores “the potentially wide-ranging environmental damage arising from deep sea mining.”
“An aggressive push by any industry player to fast-track the conclusion of seven years of ongoing global negotiations on the mining code can only be seen as a naked attempt to highjack and undermine the prospects of achieving the most stringent standards and regulations for the extremely risky experimental activity of mining the deep seabed,” the group said in its statement.
Rarotonga-based environment NGO Te Ipukarea Society has called on government to place a cap on the number of exploratory licences at four, and for no licences to be issued for commercial mining until more research is carried out on the potential impacts of mining activity.
PM Brown said currently not enough is known about the deep sea environment to commence mining operations. “Within the Cook Islands waters, we currently do not have enough information to make that decision,” he said. “We will continue to proceed with a precautionary approach, making decisions based on the best available science to responsibly manage our seabed minerals resources and maintain our marine biodiversity.”
Written by - CINEWS Emmanuel Samoglou