Outrage In PNG As Deep Sea Mining Finance Illegally Mines 180 Tonnes Of Seabed

The MV Coco, chartered by Deep Sea Mining Finance, has been revealed to be illegally mining in Papua New Guinea's waters. According to sources, the vessel extracted 180 tonnes of material from the West Coast of the New Ireland Province and has stockpiled even more without authorisation. This incident has sparked outrage among local communities and PNG’s civil society who highlight their Government’s dishonesty and the threats posed by deep sea mining.

DSMF, the company behind this illegal operation, has notable connections to individuals and entities previously convicted of fraud and corruption. CEO Mr. Jordinson received a 2-year jail sentence for insider trading (a). Registered in the British Virgin Islands, known for corporate secrecy, DSMF’s ownership and financial situation remain obscure. Research revealed that a close partner, the Monex Group, was ordered by the U.S. Federal Court in 2022 to pay $38 million for commodity fraud and registration violations. In addition, major stakeholders in DSMF include shareholders of Nautilus Minerals such as US sanctioned oligarch Alisher Usmanov and Omani conglomerate MB Holdings. Nautilus left the PNG Government with a debt burden of USD 125 million upon its bankruptcy in 2019 (b).

DSMF acquired Nautilus Minerals assets, including the Solwara 1 mining licence. This licence is itself the subject of a legal case aimed at revealing how the Solwara1 mining permits were granted and whether the PNG Government followed due process.

Dr Helen Rosenbaum is the Research Coordinator at the Deep Sea Mining Campaign. “DSMF appears to disregard due process and PNG Government regulations by effectively starting to mine the seabed of the Bismarck Sea”.

“The exploration licence DSMF is operating under allows samples to be extracted at the Solwara 1 site for analyses. We are informed however that the company has gone well beyond its licence conditions by creating enormous stockpiles of ore on the seabed in readiness for transport to the surface. It's likely that DSMF has already destroyed much of the unique hydrothermal vent ecology (c) - a significant breach of exploration permit conditions.” says Dr Rosenbaum.

“Not only is DSMF mining illegally but is doing so without an environmental impact statement relevant to its method of mining, an environmental management plan, or emergency response plan. This seriously risks the health of the coastal and island communities who depend on the Bismarck Sea for sustenance. DSMF is trying to take shortcuts and use the documents submitted by Nautilus to the PNG Government. These are not applicable as DSMF is using a completely different mining method. In any case, the Nautilus environmental impact statement contained many serious flaws that are yet to be addressed.”

The people of Papua New Guinea are angry. The government's lack of transparency in forming a partnership with this fishy company has fuelled public mistrust. Jonathan Mesulam of the Alliance of Solwara Warriors expressed the community's frustration: “We, the custodians of the Bismarck archipelago, have resisted seabed mining for over a decade. We condemn DSMF’s illegal activities and call on the Government to withdraw the company’s licence to operate in our country. The Government must also cancel all seabed mining licences and enforce the moratorium it agreed to last year.”

In 2023 the MV Coco was the focal point of a significant international protest against deep sea mining by Greenpeace International. In an over 200-hour demonstration, activists utilised kayaks and climbed aboard the vessel to draw global attention to the environmental dangers posed by The Metals Company (TMC) and its subsidiary, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI).

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