“Rules that govern mineral resource related activities in the international seabed area should be basically the same, or of an equivalent standard, as those now being developed inside the national jurisdictions of Pacific Island countries,” said Michael Lodge, Legal Counsel for the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
Mr. Lodge was invited to contribute to a three-day High Level Meeting recently held in Fiji that launched the Deep Sea Minerals Project organized by SPC/SOPAC Division and funded by the EU.
The High Level Meeting addressed legislative, regulatory, capacity requirements and environmental issues pertaining to deep-sea mineral mining for countries in the Pacific region.
Only three months ago Paul Lynch thought the chances of successfully mining the manganese nodules that cover a large area of his country’s seabed was ‘virtually’ impossible. He does not think so anymore.
Delegates at the three-day Deep Sea Mineral Mining “high level” workshop have identified key issues that need to be addressed towards the commercialization of deep seabed mining in the Pacific Region. The workshop was held from June 6-8 in Fiji.
For the first time a major step forward in the development of seabed mining is now in place with the granting of the mining lease to Nautilus Minerals for the development of the Solwara 1 project in the Bismarck Sea in Papua New Guinea.
While some island countries in the Pacific have developed basic laws to govern terrestrial (land) and seabed mineral mining, according to Vincent da Costa Pinto who is representing Timor Leste. His country has none.
