Nautilus Minerals is developing the world’s first ever seafloor mining operation at Solwara 1 in the Bismarck Sea off the west coast of New Ireland province. Solwara is the pidgin English term for salt (sea) water.
Nautilus Minerals has been exploring the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea since 1997 looking for high-grade sea floor massive sulphide(SMS) deposits. SMS deposits are a potential source of copper, gold, zinc and silver.
The Solwara 1 gold and copper mine will involve the digging of high-grade SMS deposits from the sea floor at a depth of 1,600 metres. The mine trench will be 1.3km long, up to 200m wide and 19m deep.
The Solwara 1 mine has been granted an Environmental Permit by the PNG government and a mining lease.
Nautilus Minerals has identified five other potential mine sites in the Bismarck sea and named them Solwaras 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16.
There has been no information given by Nautilus Minerals or the PNG government about how the project will comply with Papua New Guinea’s Constitutional Goals and Directive Principles and how it will promote integral human development, equitably share resources, provide for the strict control of foreign investment, use the environment wisely and protect Papua New Guinea ways.
The indigenous landowners with rights and interests over the sea floor and environmental impact area have not been formally identified or consulted and have not given their free informed prior consent to the mining operation. Watch the landowners express their concerns about the impact of the mining.
The Solwara 1 mine will be the world’s first sea floor mining operation and therefore there is no proven environmental management model for this type of operation
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The maritime and island people of Madang, PNG, maintain their strong stand against deep sea mining in the Bismarck Sea region. Led by the Madang Indigenous People’s Forum (MIPF), the people have initiated their own awareness campaign against this proposed experiment by Nautilus Minerals on the people’s traditional fishing grounds and their traditional territory for trade, survival and cultural practices.
