THE proposal to mine the sea bed area between the west coast of Namatanai in New Ireland Province and East New Britain needs more public awareness and debate, says East New Britain Governor Ereman ToBaining Jr.
Papua New Guinea is in the same boat as the New Zealanders and the people's fight to conserve their native resources by which the oceans of water protects has come to success after which the Environmental Protection Authority proved that there is uncertainty in the environmental damage that will be caused by this experiment. Papua New Guinea governing bodies can feed off a lesson or two from its neighbouring pacific island country.
THE East New Britain provincial government has maintained that it must get 60 per cent of the equity shares of 5 per cent offloaded by the National Government in the Solwara 1 project.
This stance was reaffirmed during the Provincial Executive Council (PEC) meeting last week where Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) was invited to do a presentation on the equity shares between East New Britain and New Ireland provinces.
Mining Minister and member for Namatanai, Byron Chan is summoning all the support he can get to fully revitalise the Lihir Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).
The full revitalisation of the Lihir MOA is believed willl pave the way for Canada-based Nautilus Minerals to pursue their development agenda on the highly controversial Solwara 1 project off the coast of Namatanai as well as pending issues on Lihir and Simberi gold mines.
The two chalked messages made a dramatic change from the usual seabed mining signs. “Fabulous result KASM thankx” read the Raglan West roadside blackboard that usually advertises scooters for hire, while proudly graffitied on Whaingaroa Environment Centre’s front wall was a simple “We won!” with “No seabed mining” in smaller lettering above.
The focus on proposed seabed mining now shifts from Taranaki to the Chatham Rise, as the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) considers its second ocean mining application.
This week, the EPA's maiden decision declined a proposal by Trans-Tasman Resources to mine iron-sand off Taranaki's coast - throwing the focus on to a separate proposal by Chatham Rock Phosphate to take phosphate from the sea floor of the Chatham Rise.
The focus on proposed seabed mining now shifts from Taranaki to the Chatham Rise, as the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) considers its second ocean mining application.
This week, the EPA's maiden decision declined a proposal by Trans-Tasman Resources to mine iron-sand off Taranaki's coast - throwing the focus on to a separate proposal by Chatham Rock Phosphate to take phosphate from the sea floor of the Chatham Rise.