Experimental seabed mining involves open-cut strip mining of the sea floor using giant remote controlled robots.

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Countries across the Pacific region have issued hundreds of seabed exploration licences to mining companies and in PNG the government has issued the world's first experimental seabed mining lease to Canadian company, Nautilus Minerals.  

Pacific countries have no specific laws that govern mining of the seabed - but that has not stop their governments handing out exploration and mining licences. 

Groups across the Pacific are campaigning to stop experimental seabed mining because:

• The environmental impacts are unknown;
• Local people have not given their free prior informed consent;
• Mining in the Pacific has a very poor social record;
• The potential economic returns are very limited.

The proposed mining operation in PNG

Nautilus intends to mine copper and gold from high-grade massive sulphide deposits on the sea floor at a depth of 1600 metres. The lease covers an area of 59 km2 known as Solwara 1, 30 km off the coast of New Ireland and 50km north of Rabaul.

Sea floor massive sulphide deposits occur around sub-sea volcanoes (called sea floor hydrothermal vents). The project will mine 'active mineralised chimney habitats and their associated colonies of hydrothermal vent fauna'.

The process involves remote controlled mining vehicles stripping the ore from the sea floor, collecting it and sending it as a slurry via a pipeline to the surface where the water is separated and sent back to the sea floor via a second pipeline. The ore is

transfered from the mining support vessel onto a barge and taken for processing.

The mine is estimated to last 30 months at a max extraction rate of 5,900 tonnes per day - although it could extend beyond 5 years if additional resource is found.

SIGN THE PETITION OPPOSING EXPERIMENTAL SEABED MINING

Campaign successes

The Pacific campaign against experimental seabed mining was launched in 2011. It was a direct response to mining license applications by Nautilus Minerals and a SOPAC project, funded by the European Union, that promotes seabed mining across the Region.

The campaign was initiated by the Pacific Network Against Globilization (PANG), Bismark Ramu Group (BRG) and ACT NOW! The campaign is also supported by Development Alternatives With Women in a New Era (DAWN), the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) and the Social Education Empowerment Programme (SEEP).

Since 2010, the campaign has:

• Collected over 30, 000 signatures on a public petition;
• Commissioned a legal opinion on the interpretation of the "Precautionary Principle" which was launched during the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in 2012 in the Cook Islands; 
• Commissioned a legal opinion on Fiji's Draft Deep Sea Mining Legislation;
• Produced factsheets, articles and documentaries to raise public awareness; and
• Lobbied politicians, bureaucrats and other decision makers.  

In PNG the campaign has succesfully mobilised public opinon on experimental seabed mining with the result that various voices - community groups, traditional leaders, politicians, scientists, academics, even government departments - have consistently expressing concerns. Public opposition to Nautilus Minerals and its Solwara 1 project  has significantly impacted investor confidence and insufficient funding has forced Nautilus to cancel construction of its mining platform.  

(Photo: Campaign creates fronpage news in the Cook Islands)

In 2013 the cmapign achieved a major success, with the Vanuatu government annoucing a moratorium on experimental seabed mining. This decision has sent shock waves amongst foreign investors as the government of Vanuatu is also seeking a legal opinion on the validity of 145 exploration licenses and re-instigating public consultation.  The Northern Territory government in Australia has introduced its own moratorium on experimental seabed mining in it's territorial waters in response to community concerns.