In the hangar of a mining engineering company in Great Britain, a 250-ton machine dominates: it will be used to extract minerals from the seabed, 1600 meters deep, swallowing the intensely mineralized volcanic effusions that rise from the abyss: the minerals in question are, as well as gold, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese and rare earths. In this case, the abyss is located in the Bismarck Sea, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, and the company that is about to operate this steel monster is called – and the name is appropriate – Nautilus Minerals.
A modern equivalent of the 'gold rush' is the rush to establish exploration permits in the continental shelves, especially in the central Pacific. The poor micro-nations of Micronesia see lucrative royalties opening up. After lengthy negotiations, Nautilus sold a 30% stake in the venture to the government of Papua New Guinea.
The UN International Seabed Authority is preparing rules for exploration and extraction in international waters. But environmental groups want a moratorium on these projects, which would allow the environmental impact to be studied. Proponents say the impact is low: the sediments disturbed by the extraction sink to the bottom and do not rise to the surface, while this type of extraction does not require roads, bridges and road transport that would contribute to pollution.
