The New Zealand Government FAILS to protect deep seas … disappointing!
Too late’ for Govt to vote on saving seabedNZ Herald
Jamie Morton | March 8, 2013
The Government says it was “too late” to vote to protect deep ocean habitats from the threat of seabed mining at the world’s largest conservation congress because it had already issued prospecting and exploration permits.
New Zealand was one of a handful of nations at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress to oppose a motion which sought a broad range of conservation measures to protect three types of deep ocean habitat from the effects of mining.
Read morePNG Seabed mining kros igo hed iet
Radio Australia4 March 2013 | Caroline Tiriman
Ol environmental grup na ol saintis i laikim Papua New Guinea Praim Minista why na emi no laik bekim ol askim na wari blong ol long seabed mining long kantri.
Long mun December 2012 laen blong Deep Sea mining campaign ibin salim wanpla pas igo long Peter O’Neill long tok klia long ol wok em Nautilus mining kampani imekim long lukautim environment, taem emi mekim mining aninit long solwara.
Oli kolim despla long Environmental Impact Statement.
Nautilus ibin stopim ol wok long Solwara 1 long New Guinea Islands rijan long 2012 bihaenim ol heve wantem PNG gavman.
ODIO: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/tokpisin/2013-03-04/png-seabed-mining-kros-igo-hed-iet/1096638
MEDIA RELEASE: PNG PM Silent on Environmental Risks of the Solwara 1 Deep Sea Mine
Last December the Deep Sea Mining Campaign sent a letter to Papua New Guinean Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill. The letter outlined specific environmental concerns about the Solwara 1 mine and requested that documents relating to the approvals process of Nautilus Minerals Solwara 1 deep sea mine be made publicly available. The campaign is still awaiting a response from the PNG Government.
Wence Magun, National Coordinator for the Madang based Mas Kagin Tapani and Deep Sea Mining (DSM) Campaign steering committee member said, “After receiving our letter last December, Our Prime Minister described the environment as a “core issue. But communities are still waiting to hear how he will address the many risks associated with the Solwara 1 mine – and they want to hear this before his Government re-opens any discussions with Nautilus. Why has our PM fallen silent on this core issue?”
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Will Deep-sea Mining Yield an Underwater Gold Rush?
National Geographic News Meghan Miner | 1 February 2013
A mile beneath the ocean’s waves waits a buried cache beyond any treasure hunter’s wildest dreams: gold, copper, zinc, and other valuable minerals.
Scientists have known about the bounty for decades, but only recently has rising demand for such commodities sparked interest in actually surfacing it. The treasure doesn’t lie in the holds of sunken ships, but in natural mineral deposits that a handful of companies are poised to begin mining sometime in the next one to five years.
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Environmental Uncertainties Halt Deep Sea Mining
Catherine Wilson | 17 December 2012
SYDNEY, Dec 17 2012 (IPS) – The world’s first deep sea mineral (DSM) mining venture in the Bismarck Sea off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea in the southwest Pacific has come to a halt after two years of development.
While the mining company is embroiled in a disagreement over project funding, unprecedented opposition by politicians, academics and local communities has focussed on the unknown environmental and social impacts of this untried mineral extraction process.
Deep sea mining, considered the new resource frontier, has been the subject of debate since the 1960s. But financial and technological constraints have hindered the viability of ventures.
Now, the gradual depletion of land-based mineral resources, a rise in demand for metals by growing economies in Asia and rapid technological advances have generated new interest in deep sea mining. Read more
Children speak out against seabed mining in New Zealand – Save our Sands, love our oceans
Kiwis Against Seabed Mining recently produces the following campaign video giving the children of the black sands a voice. Their powerful message is a clear NO to seabed mining.