Skip to main content

So who was consulted?

Duke of York islands ignored in seabed mining debate

by ramunickel
Kabakon Island, Duke of York Islands, Papua New Guinea
Kabakon Island, Duke of York Islands, Papua New Guinea
ActNow!
The stunningly beautiful Duke of York islands are the closest small islands to the site of the proposed Solwara 1 experimental mine in Papua New Guinea, yet the islanders say they have been completely ignored in the mine development process.
solwara_1_mapThe 13 Duke of York islands sit offshore from Kokopo, in the narrow St George's Channel between New Britain and New Ireland. They lie directly south-east of where the seabed mining is scheduled to begin in 2017.
The islanders are already facing the impacts of climate change with the rising sea level affecting food security on the low lying atolls.
In 1999 the islanders collected signatures on a petition stating their overwhelming opposition to the proposed mining. The petition was presented to the East New Britain Provincial Government but, fifteen years later, the islanders are still waiting for a response.
The islanders, through the Ramuaina Integral Development Forum and their spokesperson Philip Tokam, say nobody from the government or Nautilus Minerals, the Canadian company who will do the mining, have visited the islands to obtain their views or consent to the proposed mining.
This is despite the fact the entire economy of the islands is dependent on the sea and it provides the people with their only source of protein. Nearly every family on the islands is involved in fishing to provide food on their plates and cash incomes from sales of fresh and dried fish in Kokopo market.
The mining operation will involve three giant 250 tone machines strip mining the ocean floor creating large plumes of sand, dust and crushed rock which people fear will disturb fish stocks. Once the crushed rock has been pumped to the surface and the valuable ores separated the unwanted waste will be dumped back into sea.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Benefits and Miseries

Mining earns some revenue for the country but that is not the end of the story. It is lauded by many as a revenue earner and i used to believe this however, the trend of miseries associated with mining in the country points more towards the villagers, land owners, and the environment as the real losers. Villages and inhabitants located within or near the mines suffer more physically and socially. The current events in Porgera  this year 2017 where it is reported a police raid, again, was carried out is yet another example of misery brought upon the villagers as a result of mining. Facts surrounding this event of police raid have yet to be verified but what is certain is another misery in the midst of national pursuit of benefits. Apart from the villagers' misery there is continuous animosity over mining benefits held in trust between the government and various stakeholders. This is brought up in political debates on the floor of parliament and in the public via the media. With ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Deep Sea Science

Deep sea science is the proper investment. On July 20, 2014 I posted the short three-paragraph article below ( italics)  and titled " Investing in the future" I now add two paragraphs to my thoughts after reading something new. Opposition to experimental seabed mining should be viewed as investing in our future including our environment. We must not accept to be the guinea pig , but pass it on to more technologically advanced countries and we learn from them. Why should technologically advanced countries choose a country that is least in technological developments by its own citizens and institutions? It is not morally proper and lacks moral conscience. China and India are two of the leading countries in knowledge and technology on seabed mining and have been major participants in international conferences. The experiments should be carried out in their waters, not in Papua New Guinea. Nautilus is a Canadian company and therefore must carry out this seabed mining expe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Marine Stones

Harvesting of Marine Stones: The Past and Today The sea, like the land, has been a source of sustenance for humans since the stone ages. In the Old Stone Age humans wandered from place to place, foraging for food, eating, resting and moving on. Eventually humans learnt to settle and do things by using the land and sea. One of the things learnt was making and use of lime powder from corals. Initially wood ash was used but gradually humans found out that coral stone from the sea was of the best quality. That was a long time ago and today there is far more interest in harvesting from the sea, including the continuation of search and collection of precious stones. Coral stone from the coral reefs are harvested and processed into lime powder. It is practiced by the Tolai of Rabaul as well as other coastal villages in PNG, including the Kiriwina coastals in Trobriands. The practice had been around since our ancestors discovered coral as a mineral for processing into lime po...
Post a Comment
Read more