You can read all the latest news and updates on the Cook Islands seabed minerals sector here.
The Cook Islands opposition MP Selina Napa has asked the government to reveal what changes are being planned for the Seabed Mining Act. Ms Napa said reported statements that the changes would be made public when they are tabled in Parliament “isn’t good enough”.
Read MoreBy offering tenders for deep sea exploration the environmental risks of extracting minerals from the seabed will be able to be assessed, the Cook Islands government says. The government plans to open tenders for five-year, deep sea mining exploration licences at the beginning of next year. And while there have been concerns raised about the environmental impact of deep sea mining, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mark Brown, said the exploration phase would have a very low impact.
Read MoreDeputy prime minister and Minerals and Natural Resources minister Mark Brown says he is pleased the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Sector Strategy Public Consultations in Rarotonga have been positive, with “the majority” of the public supporting the recently-developed draft strategy.
Read MoreRadio New Zealand | 21 November 2018 In recent weeks, the government has been holding public meetings to hear feedback on its plan to open tenders for five-year, deep sea mining exploration licences at the beginning of next year. Kelvin Passfield of the Te Ipukarea Society said little was known about the biodiversity in the […]
Read MoreCook Island News | 19 November 2018 Before matters proceed to the point of no return, we the Iti Tangata need to ask whether mining will lead to riches or to our ruin. Should we allow our Government to jeopardise the main industry of our country that is the backbone of our national economy? Does […]
Read MoreSince 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 […]
Read MoreInterest in deep sea mining has been accelerating due to the rising price of cobalt. The metal is an important component of EV batteries, laptops and cell phones. In October 2017, cobalt prices reached a nine-year high, trading at around US$30 per pound, tripling its 2015 value of US$10. The rise is not only seen […]
Read MoreThe 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 […]
Read More“The Pacific Network on Globalisation says claims environmental costs would stop seabed mining in the Cook Islands would be thwarted by a lack of safeguards in the country’s laws. PANG co-ordinator Maureen Penjueli says the Cooks’ Seabed Minerals Act dates back to 2009 when deep-sea mining was believed to be low risk, high return. She said in 2017 the risks to the environment were still little understood.”
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