Seabed Mining not in Best Interest of New Ireland
By RENATA LAVEIL “Seabed Mining is a risk not worth taking”, said Governor for New Ireland Province, Sir Julius Chan in September, 2012. Almost a year later, he is involved in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing with the Nautilus Minerals Ltd, New Ireland Provincial government (NIPG) and the National Government. The MOU was signed minus the presence of the Resource Owners of West Coast Central New Ireland (within the corridors of the Solwara 1 Project), this action has given the impression of the Governor selling out for the Experimental Seabed Mining despite his declaration in 2011 that under the Malagan Declaration, the provincial government’s stance was to protect the people of New Ireland. Under the MOU signed a working group was formed to oversee the project into fruition; members comprising of representatives from the Provincial Government, National Government and the Nautilus Minerals Ltd. Quite noticeably the local landowners were left out of the MOU signing and to what