Read about the exciting research survey conducted in Cook Island waters. Cook Islanders were front and center with all the work going on onboard.

Rima Browne7 January 2020Israel Miles, cook islands seabed minerals, MV Grinna, Adrian Flynn, OML, Ocean Minerals Limited, Research, Free fall grab, Sam Napa

Research team spends festive season at sea

Seabed minerals voyage looks at reserve area north of Aitutaki.

Rima Browne28 December 2019Deep sea research, MV Grinna, Ocean Minerals Limited, Hans Smit, cook islands seabed minerals, Sam Napa

New voyage for Cook Is exploration of deep-sea nodules

More deep sea research will be undertaken in Cook Island waters and Cook Islanders are right at the forefront of this next research survey. The team will be departing Rarotonga shores this December.

Rima Browne14 December 2019Ocean Minerals Limited, Hans Smit, Reboama Samuel, Charlee McLean, Anna Glassie, Sam Napa, Junior Tapoki, Te Ipukarea Society, Voyaging Society, Israel Miles, cook islands seabed minerals, Cook Islands, CI EEZ, Exploration, Deep sea research

Deep Sea Mining from a Pacific Island State Perspective: An Interview with Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Commissioner Paul Lynch

Since August 2012, Paul Lynch has led the Cook Islands’ Seabed Minerals Authority, which oversees development of the islands’ national seabed mineral resource. A lawyer with over 25 years of wide and varied legal experience in the private sector, Commissioner Lynch is shaping deep sea mining as an industry, both in the Cook Islands and […]

Cook Islands Partners to Explore Pacific Bounty

The government of the Cook Islands, through the Cook Islands Investment Corporation (CIIC), entered into an agreement in September with U.S. based Ocean Minerals, LLC (OML) for the exclusive right for up to 18 months to prospect and explore high value polymetallic nodules over approximately 23,000 square kilometers of the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone […]

InternationalDede Mingi27 November 2017Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ), Cobalt, Cook Islands, Rarotonga, Cook Islands Investment Corporation (CIIC), Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Manganese Nodule, Nickel, Ocean Minerals Limited, Penrhyn Basin, Polymetallic Nodules, Rare Earth Minerals

Cook Islands signs seabed minerals deal

“In a deal worth $100,000, OML has reserved around 23,000 square kilometres, or 1.2% of the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) containing high value polymetallic (manganese) nodules for up to 18 months.

This gives the company the exclusive right to apply to undertake prospecting and exploration activities in that area. The first agreement between the government and the OML was signed a year ago in which they reserved a different seabed area of around 12,000 square kilometres to explore primarily for seafloor sediment enriched in Rare Earth Elements (REEs), as well as four additional areas reserved for OML on a first option basis.

Under this latest agreement, Finance minister Mark Brown confirmed the OML will not undertake any activity in this particular area, adding it was merely to reserve the spot for potential exploration in the future.

“It is basically to give them the first right over this (area) ahead of any other company that may want to come in and apply for an exploration licence in this particular area,” Brown said.”

CI NEWSDede Mingi3 October 2017Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority, Cook Islands, Rarotonga, Ocean Minerals Limited, CI EEZ, Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone, Polymetallic Nodules, Manganese, nodules, Cobalt, Rare Earth Minerals, Mark Brown, Cook Islands Investment Corporation (CIIC), Seabed Minerals Act, Marae Moana Act, OML

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