Chatham Rise seabed hearing: the absence of evidence

Source: Scoop NZ

The phosphate on the seabed, 450m down on the Chatham Rise, has a particular quality that other phosphate doesn’t have: uranium.

The toxicity of this uranium was the focus of yesterday’s seabed mining hearing, and the evidence from a range of experts hasn’t filled us with confidence.

Source: PNG MIne Watch

Mining phosphate from the seabed of the Chatham Rise would remove a protected coral species crucial to the local ecosystem, an Environmental Protection Agency hearing into a seabed mining proposal was told this morning.

Source: Simon Hartly

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.