Deep Sea News

Tribal Villagers Express Concern About Nautilus Mining

Posted by CR McClain on July 10, 2007
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Readers probably know by now I am skeptical of Nautilus Mining’s commitment to the conservation of the deep ocean. They are currently poised to begin large-scale mining efforts with a bus-sized ROV off extinct hydrothermal vent chimneys off Papua New Guinea. This week 2000 tribe members from Bagabag Island urged the government to put end to exploration and mining on the seabed in a paid advertisement in the national paper. In the piece they voiced

their frustrations and absolute disgust over the manner in which the provincial and national governments have issued license to Nautilus Minerals Corporation Ltd to conduct deep sea mining activities near Bagabag Island and in the surrounding outer islands in the province…Mr. Daing and Rev. Kinim said Nautilus has no experience in sea bed mining and therefore do not want to see their ocean as a training ground for this company.

Sea Turtle Restoration Project has the full story and hosts the advertisement as a pdf.

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Comments

  1. #1 wenceslaus magun
    July 15, 2007

    Mautilus currently is licensed to do seabed exploration. It’s findings can lead into seeking license from the PNG government to do seabed mining. It argues that it is doing its activities well away from traditional fishing grounds and has low environmental impact. We strongly rebut this and urge Nautilus to fund an independent consultant(s) to do a risk assessment of the Bismark Seas in Papua New Guinea, prior, during and after its exploration activities. We have had enough learned experiences from irreparrable environmental, social, physical,and other related damages caused through land based mines in PNG and do not want this to be another playground for mining companies to experiment their mining methodologies for their own profit.