Explorer seeks clarity on NT seabed moratoriumWednesday, 7 March 2012 Tania Winter
MANGANESE explorer Northern Manganese is seeking urgent talks with the Commonwealth to clarify its position after a moratorium on seabed mining was declared by the Northern Territory government.
Northern Manganese executive chairman Doug Daws told MiningNews.net the moratorium contradicted a decision by the federal government to grant the group exploration rights for eight tenements covering 1723sq.km in shallow areas and two islands around Groote Eylandt, including approval for an acoustic survey.
The tenements are located immediately adjacent to and contain the interpreted extensions of the world-class manganese deposits at Groote Eylandt currently being mined by Groote Eylandt Mining Company, which is 60%-owned by BHP Billiton.
The two exploration rights over the islands of Winchelsea and Connexion have been placed in veto by the NT government for five years since March last year, at the request of the traditional owners through the Anindilylakwa Land Council, the representative body on Groote Eylandt.
“The offshore areas come under the Commonwealth government and we already have approval from the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities,” Daws said.
The moratorium, unveiled by NT resources minister Kon Vatskalis, will be in place until 2015 while a comprehensive assessment on the potential impacts of such activities is undertaken by the Environment Protection Authority.
Vatskalis said the decision by the government meant exploration applications and applications for mining of bulk materials in coastal waters would not be granted for three years.
It did not include petroleum exploration and production and port development activities.
Seabed mining has been a hot topic in the Top End where vast manganese deposits are believed to exist in the shallow seabed around Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
“The NT government has taken this decision to allow the appropriate time to undertake the various assessments required to determine the actual and potential impacts of any exploration or mining activity associated with bulk commodity sea mining,” Vatskalis said in a statement.
“The assessment process will involve the EPA and the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority who will be tasked with reviewing various issues around seabed mining.
“We will also be seeking to work with other states and territories on developing a nationally consistent approach to seabed mining.”
But Daws says it remains unclear as to whether the moratorium will apply only to new applications, or whether it impacts existing permits and pre-existing Commonwealth approvals, whether it only applies to the physical issue of interfering with the seabed with drilling or mining and whether it includes non-invasive works like acoustic surveys.
“All of that is unclear and we will be seeking legal advice,” he told MNN.
“We will be endeavouring to talk to the minister who has been significantly unavailable over the last few months and has been notable for his complete lack of response to any communications and is conspicuous by his lack of administrative performance.
“The only thing that is clear in the minister’s statement is that they [the NT government] want to do an environment survey that could take three years.
“There is a view that the NT government is only in the middle of rubber-stamping a process.”
A spokesperson from the NT Department of Resources told MNN the moratorium applied to all permits, not just new applications, and that the areas did in fact fall under the Territory's jurisdiction, not the Commonwealth.
He also said the commonwealth approval from the EPBC covered only the planned acoustic survey to be undertaken by Northern Manganese.
In the last 18 months, Northern Manganese has spent $A1.5 million exploring its acreage and it recently forked out around $750,000 moving its head office to Darwin from Perth at the specific request of the minister.
“What are we going to do for three years if we can’t go exploring?” Daws quipped.
Shares in Northern Manganese were unchanged in morning trade on 4c.
NTM Price at posting:
2.9¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
