Out of Our Depth: Mining the Ocean Floor in Papua New Guinea

In November 2011, our founding report, Out of Our Depth: Mining the Ocean Floor in Papua New Guinea, followed-up on an independent review by our colleague, Dr Richard Steiner’s of Nautilus Minerals’ plan to mine gold and copper from the seafloor of PNG’s Bismarck Sea. 

Written by our Science-Advocacy Coordinator Dr Helen Rosenbaum, it found that the Government of Papua New Guinea had granted a 20-year mining lease based on a flawed Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). An EIS with no independent studies of the social, cultural, health or economic impacts on coastal communities at all.

It was our first report. But it started something.

Within a year, the cracks were showing. 

At Nautilus’s 2012 shareholder meeting, PNG community leader Wences Magun told the room directly: 

“Local communities have NOT sanctioned this project… We are being used as guinea pigs.” 

The PNG Government refused to fund its share of development costs. A financing deal collapsed. Nautilus’s share price dropped. By 2019, the company had filed for bankruptcy protection, taking roughly USD120 million of PNG public investment down with it.

Fifteen years on, the same seabed is back in a new company’s sights. Solwara 1 has been revived in the Bismarck Sea. The flaws we identified in 2011 haven’t disappeared, they’ve just changed hands.

But the fight continues as the Alliance of Solwara Warriors stand strong in stopping deep sea mining in their Bismarck and Solomon Seas

This is what 15 years of deep sea mining campaigning looks like: evidence that doesn’t age, and a fight that isn’t over yet. 

Over the next few months we’ll be revisiting the reports, wins and partnerships that got us here, starting with this one that started it all.

Follow along as we mark 15 years ↓ subscribe below ↓