The two ships arrived in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific last March. One is a familiar sight: a giant cruise ship, bringing hundreds of tourists to the pristine shores of this country of 15,000 people. The other, a neon orange ship carrying complex scientific equipment, is more unusual.
On a nearby dock, Prime Minister Mark Brown and many other prominent citizens gathered to celebrate the arrival of the smaller boat. For Mr. Brown, the cruise ship symbolizes his country’s worrying dependence on tourism. He describes the other ship, owned by an international mining company, as a harbinger of incredible wealth.
The Cook Islands are spearheading efforts to mine the ocean floor for minerals used in electric car batteries. Mining of these deposits has never been done on a large scale, but their reserves are so large, proponents argue, that mining them could boost the world. The world is shifting away from fossil fuels.
According to one report, it would also be transformational for the Cook Islands: Undersea mining could generate tens of billions of dollars for the small nation. 2019 research. Its per capita income is about 11,000 USD.
However, undersea mining faces fierce opposition from environmentalists, who fear that it will harm the deep-sea ecosystem. More than 800 scientists have called for a halt to this activity, France, Britain and big companies like Google and BMW.
For two years, mining companies have been exploring the feasibility of seabed mining in Cook Islands waters. The government is expected to decide in 2027 whether to allow this and faces growing pressure at home and abroad from critics who say it is rushing it. an untested method.
Duncan Currie, an adviser to the High Seas Alliance and other international conservation organizations, said: “The government is actively promoting deep-sea mining. “They appear to be pursuing undersea mining despite the adverse impacts.”
Mr Brown confirmed that the Cook Islands had not yet committed to mining.
“Sometimes criticism can be annoying,” he said in an interview. Exploring the possibilities of undersea mining “is part of our journey to independence and sovereignty,” he said.
In the past, he has pushed back against criticism more forcefully.
“The same countries that have destroyed our planet through decades of for-profit development and to this day continue their profit-driven actions and neglect their responsibility for climate change, is making demands.” “It is condescending and implies that we are too stupid or too greedy to know what we are doing.”
The Cook Islands, a chain of 15 islands that were once a colony of New Zealand, have been self-governing since 1965. Immediately after achieving that status, i.e. lack of complete independenceInternational research vessels began exploring the country’s territorial waters, which cover an area of about 756,000 square miles, roughly equivalent to the land area of Mexico.
Researchers have found the seabed is carpeted with boulders or nodules the size of avocados, rich in cobalt and manganese. Each nodule grows the thickness of a credit card, about once every million years. Until recent technological advances, these rocks remained inaccessible.
Over the past decade, the Cook Islands have been chasing those bumps in fits and starts. In 2012, it established an agency to solicit mining proposals for its waters. In 2022, it issued licenses to three companies to survey waters and test mining technology.
Other countries that have taken steps to survey the seabed include Japan and Norway. Most private enterprises focus on exploiting international waters, but regulations allowing this are still being promulgated.
Proponents argue that scouring the ocean floor is the best way to obtain more minerals used in electric vehicle batteries and reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. They add that mining nodules from the ocean floor with appropriate controls is less harmful to the environment than open-pit surface mines, which are also often disruptive to communities around.
Undersea mining – which involves crawlers that scrub the seabed, suck up rocks and drain out silt plumes – interests Teina Rongo, a marine biologist who runs an NGO about the environment in the Cook Islands’ capital Avarua, on the island of Rarotonga, is appalling.
“Our creation story is that the ocean floor is where life began,” he said. “How many creatures would we destroy down there if we sucked up all that sand?”
Mr. Rongo had just finished teaching a class on climate change to students at a community center, where straw turtles decorated the walls and diving gear dripped water onto the floor. Speaking to a reporter about what he called the dangers of mining, he pointed to Nauru, another small country in the Pacific.
Rich reserves of phosphate, a fertilizer ingredient, once brought immense wealth to Nauru, but mismanagement and accusations of corruption have plunged the nation into poverty. Now its people live in a desolate, strip-mined lunar landscape.
Alex Herman, head of the Cook Islands Seabed Mining Authority, emphasized that her agency is taking a cautious, science-based approach to seabed mining. “The Cook Islands is a special place, our own paradise, and we want to be extremely mindful of any unintended consequences or impacts arising from the development of this sector,” she said. .
However, some critics say Brown’s government has been too friendly to companies allowed to survey the ocean floor. “They both have the same agenda,” said Kelvin Passfield, director of Te Ipukarea Association, a local environmental group.
Mr Brown denies that allegation, but critics say there is evidence of a revolving door between the two sides.
Following the resignation of former mining company chief Paul Lynch, exploration company Cook Islands Cobalt has hired his wife, Shona Lynch, as a senior domestic executive.
Ms Lynch defended her appointment. “I have my own degree,” she said. “I’m not a stay-at-home wife.”
Then, last year, Mr. Lynch told a local newspaper that another prospector, Moana Minerals, took him on vacation aboard its survey ship as it passed through the Panama Canal (he compared it with “the chance to go to the moon” ). Mr. Lynch, who has said he paid for his flights, declined to comment.
Mr. Brown said he was careful not to get close to mining industry leaders. But, he added, when you “establish yourself here, you tend to become part of the family. Those are very personal relationships you will have with companies.”
The government said it sent independent observers aboard survey ships to ensure the reliability of the companies’ data, which officials said would inform decisions on whether to pursue operations. seabed mining activities or not.
Rashneel Kumar, the newspaper’s editor, said the public appeared to be evenly divided on the issue. Cook Islands Newsthe country’s largest newspaper.
But many people think they know what the decision will be like. Teresa Manarangi-Trott, a cautious advocate of undersea mining, led a government committee to gather public views on the practice.
“The government has decided that it will happen, no matter what anyone says,” she said.
Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from the Peter M. Acland Foundation, a media charity based in New Zealand.
