Patea beach, South Taranaki, New Zealand. Photo source: ©© Trey Guin
Excerpts;
New Zealand decides tomorrow whether to approve to mine the black sands off the oceanfloor in the southern Taranaki Bight, that would likely become the world’s first commercial metals mine at the bottom of the sea.
Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) proposes to extract up to 50 million tonnes of sediment per year and process it aboard a floating processing storage and offloading vessel, over an area of 65.76 square kilometres, offshore of Patea….
A green light to allow New Zealand’s TTR to start iron-ore dredging off the country’s west coast will encourage others looking to mine copper, cobalt, manganese and other metals deeper on the ocean floor but worried about regulatory hurdles…
“Iron Sand Mining Decision Expected, New Zealand”, Stuff Environment New Zealand
Ocean ironsands mining decision due tomorrow, The New Zealand Herald
Backed by Australian, American and New Zealand investors, TTR intends to raise as much as US$550 million in debt and equity to fund the project, which would vacuum up iron-rich seafloor sands, extracting the desired titano-magnetite for export to Asian steel mills…
Taranaki’s Black Sand Could Prove Golden, One News
A proposal to mine the seabed for 20 years is set to be considered by the Environmental Protection Authority tomorrow.
Sand Mining Opposition Grows, Taranaki Daily News
A wave of opposition to seabed mining off the south Taranaki coast is growing as divers, fishermen and local iwi rally against the proposal…
Iron Sands Mining Hearing: The Concerns, The New Zealand Herald
