"Not merely ‘exploration’: PNG deep-sea mining riles critics & surprises officials", 2 September 2024

A deep-sea mining operation that recently took place off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has raised alarm bells for environmentalists and called into question the validity of the country’s moratorium on such activities.

Between May 16 and July 19, the mining vessel MV Coco ventured into the Bismarck Sea close to the west coast of PNG’s province of New Ireland. ...The vessel is owned by Magellan, a deep-water exploration and mapping company based in Jersey in the Channel Islands, and was chartered by Deep Sea Mining Finance (DSMF) Ltd. ...

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“This was not merely an exploration exercise,” Rosenbaum told Mongabay in an email. “Nautilus had already conducted many of these. DSMF was trialing new equipment to mine the hydrothermal vents. Doing this over a 6-week period constitutes the first phase of mining.”

DSMF did not respond to Mongabay’s multiple requests for comment about the nature of the mining operation.

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