Papua New Guinea leaders struggle to monitor deep-sea mining activities off its coast

The kind of deep-sea mining that we’ve examined this week is only legally permitted inside a country’s territorial waters. The only country on earth to allow it so far is Papua New Guinea. Videographer Edward Kiernan and special correspondent Willem Marx report on how difficult it is for the impoverished Pacific nation to monitor deep-sea mining activities.
Geoff Bennett:
Governments often struggle to move quickly when it comes to regulating new industries or products. One area where international organizations and governments around the world have failed to agree on regulation is far out at sea beyond national maritime boundaries.
That’s meant the kind of deep-sea mining that we have examined this week is only legally permitted inside a country’s territorial waters. And the only country on Earth to allow it so far is Papua New Guinea in its waters of the Bismarck Sea off the island of New Ireland.
For the third and final part in this series, videographer Ed Kiernan and special correspondent Willem Marx show us how difficult it is for this impoverished Pacific nation to monitor deep-sea mining activities, even those that are occurring close to its shore.
Willem Marx:
This summer, not far from the stunning coastline of New Ireland Province in the Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea, the MV Coco was very likely the only ship anywhere on the world’s oceans to be engaged pin the deeply controversial practice of deep-sea mining.
Twice a day for several weeks, it sent this giant claw a mile beneath the surface of the Bismarck Sea to help its crew haul up around 180 tons of copper-rich rock, while also stockpiling many times more than that on the nearby seabed. This was an industrial-scale trial run to see if an even larger operation like this could one day continue long term by proving itself profitable enough for investors and sufficiently safe for the ocean environment.
The Coco sailed under charter for a company called Deep Sea Mining Finance, or DSMF, in partnership with another business, Magellan, where James Holt helped oversee this work.
James Holt, Offshore Manager, Magellan:
We’re underneath the jurisdiction of Papua New Guinea. We’re in national waters, so they have full responsibility for whether they give us permits or not.
Willem Marx:
Papua New Guinea, often known as PNG, is among a tiny group of countries that’s theoretically approved this kind of underwater extraction in its maritime territory. It’s not yet permitted in the Pacific’s international waters, where the Coco and team from Magellan were conducting environmental surveys last November for another deep-sea mining firm called The Metals Company, when protesters from Greenpeace suddenly, unexpectedly appeared on the horizon.
The group’s activists had kayaked right up close to the Coco before some harnessed in climbing equipment quickly clambered aboard.
Louisa Casson, Greenpeace International:
The deep-sea mining industry has always tried to operate in the shadows.
Willem Marx:
Louisa Casson took part in that protest and leads Greenpeace’s campaign against deep-sea mining.
Louisa Casson:
What we do need is a legally binding moratorium that can stop this industry from causing harm to the oceans, which is what an overwhelming amount of research is showing. We’re directly removing part of the habitat, including parts that life centers around.
So, you know, it is inevitably destructive. And I think that is the core problem with deep-sea mining that no amount of P.R. spin or political lobbying from the industry can get over.
Willem Marx:
James Holt was also on board the Coco during the protest working and says he ultimately welcomes such scrutiny.
James Holt:
It’s good that we have got people out there monitoring what we’re doing and that companies just can’t go off and just start grabbing on the seabed without permissions.
So, Greenpeace have got an important part to play. But I just hope that the evidence shows that we have got such a high copper content, and that, if the world has got to have more copper, and that getting it from the seabed is the way forward.
Willem Marx:
Papua New Guinea was the first country on Earth to hand out a full subsea mining license back in 2011 to a Canadian business called Nautilus Minerals.
Inside the country’s Parliament, some lawmakers soon began to raise concerns, including northern province governor, Gary Juffa.
Gov. Gary Juffa, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea:
I was totally against it. And I was mortified. I’m not a scientist, I’m not an expert on mining or seabed mining or what goes on in the oceans. But I did some research and I found out that this activity had not been carried out anywhere else in the world yet.
So we were going to be a test case, so to speak. This didn’t sit well with me.
Willem Marx:
But in countless ministerial meetings and PowerPoint presentations, Nautilus made many promises.
Man:
The project has criteria it has to perform to.
Willem Marx:
That it would create an innovative industry that could safely generate huge returns using specially constructed machinery.
PNG’s government poured tens of millions of dollars into the idea, and the evidence of that vast, vanished investment is still visible, if you know where to look. More than a decade after those bold promises of an entirely new type of mining deep beneath the ocean surface, the machines at the heart of that vision that promised to strip-mine the ocean floor are now rusting here in an empty lot on the edge of the capital city, Port Moresby.
Deep-Sea Mining Finance took over Nautilus and its mining permit in 2019, then eventually partnered with Magellan’s founder to restart the venture. DSMF’s listed representatives in 2019 included an Australian who pled guilty to insider trading and a Swiss man disqualified as a director on the Isle of Man amid money-laundering contraventions.
The pair in turn represented the company’s two largest shareholders, an Omani businessman called Mohammed Al Barwani and Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov now under sanction in the U.S., Canada, and many other countries. Natural resources in PNG have often benefited overseas businesses, but sometimes failed to support local communities.
Allan Bird is an opposition politician who says this must change. A former mining executive, he was in high demand at a recent mining industry conference held in Port Moresby. In a speech, he advocated for more overseas investment in his country. Afterwards, we asked him about the permitting process for mining out at sea.
What about offshore?
Gov. Allan Bird, East Sepiek, Papua New Guinea:
We don’t have any offshore operations.
Willem Marx:
Allan, we have just been on a vessel in the Bismarck Sea that is pulling up the ocean floor.
Gov. Allan Bird, East Sepiek, Papua New Guinea:
Seriously?
Willem Marx:
How do you feel about that?
Gov. Allan Bird:
Shocked. I had no idea. I thought the whole thing was mothballed.
Willem Marx:
You’re a senior governor in this country.
Gov. Allan Bird:
Yes.
Willem Marx:
And the fact that you don’t know about that, how does that make you feel?
Gov. Allan Bird:
Deeply worried. We’re supposed to have mechanisms that ensure that such things go through a proper vetting and verification process, right? I mean, we are supposed to be a credible country.
Willem Marx:
PNG’s licensing process involves several government agencies and ministries. But few operate that transparently, as we learned when we sought out more information. There’s
currently no minister for mining here in Papua New Guinea. In fact, the man responsible for the industry right now is the prime minister. When we asked him for an interview to discuss deep-sea mining, his office insisted there was an official moratorium on the practice, and he therefore refused to discuss it.
Peter Bosip, Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights: When they’re turning a blind eye, then it becomes an issue. And this has been a common situation here in Papua New Guinea.
Willem Marx:
Peter Bosip founded a public interest law firm, CELCOR, that works on behalf of local communities confronting commercial interests here.
Peter Bosip:
They’re seeing us as a stumbling block. We will stop this mining from going out. So that’s why they want to keep these things away from us.
Willem Marx:
It sounds like you’re telling me that the government here chooses the economy over the environment.
Peter Bosip:
That’s exactly what is happening.
Willem Marx:
Bosip’s team has previously triumphed in cases against large foreign logging companies, whose projects tear up forests along the coastline and interiors of several provinces, including New Ireland.
For 12 years, his organization has been demanding to see the environmental assessments of Nautilus’ deep-sea mining proposals. These should be public, but, last year, government agencies refused to release them, despite a court order.
The managing director of one agency, the national environmental regulator CEPA, said he would meet with us, but soon stopped answering our calls. The Mining Resources Authority, or MRA, also failed to disclose information related to Nautilus’ license.
How long are you there for, a few more days?
We eventually reached the MRA’s managing director, Jerry Garry, who was away from the capital. He told us his team was responsible for monitoring all deep-sea mining activities.
Jerry Garry, Managing Director, Mining Resources Authority:
Every time when they are — they have their vessel in the country, we do have state officers who are on board to monitor what they’re doing.
Willem Marx:
So who is the state officer on board right now? Because we were on the vessel a few days ago. We did not see anyone.
Jerry Garry:
We believe it would have been people — officers from CEPA and MRA. But if they are under way in country and if they have not informed us, then that would be a concern.
Willem Marx:
So, right now, do you know that the vessel is in the country?
Jerry Garry:
I am not aware of the vessel in the country.
Willem Marx:
And yet you’re managing director of the Mineral Resources Authority?
Jerry Garry:
You’re right. I will deal with the problem now that you told me.
Willem Marx:
Magellan insists they had government approval for their work.
And after our interview, Garry issued a statement about seabed mining to local media: “We now have the resources and the technologies to safely carry out exploration and also mining. I understand the concerns, but every exploration and mining license goes through a very stringent process.”
Environmental campaigners, including Jonathan Mesulam, a former teacher who lives on New Ireland dispute this.
Jonathan Mesulam, Alliance of Solwara Warriors: There is no law in PNG. There is no regulatory framework on seabed mining. What they’re using is on onshore, but we don’t have any offshore mining. That’s specifically for seabed mining.
Willem Marx:
Fisheries could remain a sustainable resource in the Bismarck Sea for centuries to come.
Mesulam worries that any deep-sea mining effort will eventually have to end, yet it could have lasting consequences for local coastal communities. And given the lack of relevant legislation, there could be risks for the companies involved too, warns Allan Bird.
Gov. Allan Bird:
Don’t do it until you have a legal framework around which you operate. That’s the responsible thing to do, and not just for Papua New Guinea, but anywhere in the world.
Willem Marx:
Magellan and DSMF say they will wait for a thorough analysis of the rocks brought on board before making their next move. But even if a high copper concentration could make this kind of mining financially worthwhile, many will continue to question whether that could ever justify an uncertain outcome for life in and around the ocean.
For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Willem Marx in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Geoff Bennett:
In case you missed them, you can watch all of Willem Marx’s pieces about deep-sea mining on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.