Source: The Guardian
Author: Ben Doherty
The “total failure” of PNG’s controversial deep sea mining project Solwara 1 has spurred calls for a Pacific-wide moratorium on seabed mining for a decade.
Continue reading Collapse of PNG deep-sea mining venture sparks calls for moratorium
Source: Mining.com
Prime minister James Marape has agreed to support a 10-year moratorium on deep sea mining, first proposed by Fiji at the recent Pacific Islands Forum.
Continue reading 10-year moratorium on deep sea mining in PNG not enough – activists
Source: Act Now PNG
The risks and uncertainties of experimental seabed mining are too great to allow this industry to ever proceed in Papua New Guinea.
This was the view shared by seabed mining advocates, together with locals of West Coast Namatanai and representatives of Duke of York Islands, East New Britain Province, during an open forum in Namatanai.
After the gathering, a joint statement was issued, saying: “As New Irelanders we have two world class mining in Lihir and Simberi gold mine. We have logging operations and oil palm industry operating in the Province. We have run down plantations that can be used for cocoa or copra project that support local people.
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Source: Radio NZ
The company behind a troubled deep sea mining project in Papua New Guinea has suffered another blow in its delisting from a major stock exchange.
Continue reading PNG seabed mining company delisted from stock exchange
Source: Deep Sea Mining Campaign
On 11 March 2019, Nautilus Minerals Inc. took the next step in its bankruptcy proceedings, seeking court protection from creditors under the Canadian Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Having conducted a pre-filing on 21 February, that protection was extended to 28 June at the court ‘Comeback Hearing’.
Source: The Conversation
“When they start mining the seabed, they’ll start mining part of me.”
These are the words of a clan chief of the Duke of York Islands – a small archipelago in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea which lies 30km from the world’s first commercial deep sea mine site, known as “Solwara 1”. The project, which has been delayed due to funding difficulties, is operated by Canadian company Nautilus Minerals and is poised to extract copper from the seabed, 1600m below the surface.
Continue reading Deep sea mining threatens indigenous culture in Papua New Guinea
Source: Mongabay
Author: David Hutt
An ambitious plan to mine precious minerals from the ocean floor off the coast of Papua New Guinea looks to have run aground due to the developer’s financial problems.
In 2011, the government of Papua New Guinea granted Canada-based Nautilus Minerals a 20-year mining license covering roughly 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles) of the Bismarck Sea, off the country’s eastern coast. The Solwara 1 project was the first in the world to be granted rights for deep-sea mining, whereby enormous machines would dig into the ocean floor, harvesting zinc, copper and gold, and other commodities essential to building electrical equipment.
Continue reading After the loss of a ship, deep sea mining plans for PNG founder
Source: DSM Observer
Author: Andrew Thaler
2018 was supposed to be the year for Nautilus Minerals. Their three seafloor production tools—large underwater robots capable of mining seafloor massive sulphides from 1600 meters depth—were finally in hand and undergoing submerged testing. Their ship, the Nautilus New Era, was nearing completion. They had only a few hurdles left to clear before beginning production at Solwara I, the much-vaunted site of the world’s first deep sea mining operation.
Then the floor dropped out.
Source: Mining Watch Canada
Nautilus Minerals’ aspirations to be the world’s first deep sea mining company sink to the bottom of the ocean on news that the project support vessel critical to the development of the company’s deep sea mining project in Papua New Guinea has been purchased for repurposing by Indian company MDL Energy.
Continue reading Papua New Guinea Deep Sea Mining Experiment Fails
