The Canadian company The Metals Company announced on Monday night, August 26, that it would launch a deep-water mining project in the South Pacific in 2026, promising to overcome the criticism that has damaged the project, which is controversial about the environmental plan. . “If everything goes as planned, we are still talking about 2026,” director general Gerard Barron told AFP, on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Tonga.
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President Moetai Brotherson is currently attending the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Conference in Tonga. It is on the edge of this eventThe Canadian company The Metals Company announced this Monday, August 26, that it would launch a deep-water mining project in the South Pacific in 2026, while promising to overcome the criticism that has damaged the project, which is controversial in terms of the environment.
“If all goes according to plan, we’re still talking about 2026“, director general Gerard Barron told AFP, on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Tonga.
Through a subsidiary supported by the small island nation of Nauru, The Metals Company hopes to open a large offshore economic zone to collect polymetallic rocks, known as nodules, from the seabed.
Initial tests are already underway and The Metals Company has said it will submit its plans to the international regulator early next year.
The nodules are loaded with manganese, copper, cobalt or nickel, metals used in making electric vehicle batteries. These are mineral formations that develop with the help of microbes over millions of years, especially around cores of organic material such as shark tooth or whale bone.
With Nauru, Tonga and the Cook Islands are at the forefront of using polymetallic nodules, unlike Palau, Fiji or Samoa who are against it and require environmental issues to be examined beforehand.
A scientific study, partly funded by The Metals Company and published in early 2024, shows that the extraction of nodules could disrupt the carbon cycle. But Mr Barron disputes the findings, saying “fake“.
Nauru, which has 12,500 inhabitants in an area of about 20 km2, claims a mineral exploration zone of more than 70,000 km2 in an area known as the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone.
In the past, phosphate mining had made Nauru one of the richest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita. But this windy weather has dried up, causing hollow and bare landscapes to appear on the island.
2024-08-27 04:12:29
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