SPC Geoscience Division

At the three-day ‘high level’ Deep Sea Minerals Mining Meeting workshop key issues were identified that need to be addressed towards the commercialisation of deep seabed mining in the Pacific region.

The EU funded, SPC/SOPAC Division-organised Meeting workshoptook place from June 6 to 8 in Fiji, and focused on legislative, regulatory, capacity requirements, and the environment, all of which pertain to deep-sea minerals and mining.

Representing Samoa at the workshop was Mr. Lameko Talia, Principal Scientific Officer, Geology and Geophysics of the Meteorology Division of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, who said that the issues raised had shown the imperative for Samoa to put regulatory policy in place, and for a review of existing seabed mineral data.