NZ rejects seabed mine

 New Zealand recently rejected its second underwater mining project due to the potential environmental impact to the seabed off the nation’s eastern coast.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refused Chatham Rock Phosphate’s application to extract phosphorite, a component used in fertilisers.

“The destructive effects of the extraction process … could not be mitigated by any set of conditions or adaptive management regime that might be reasonably imposed,” the EPA said in a statement.

“To say we are bitterly disappointed is an understatement. We are aghast,” Chatham Rock Phosphate managing director Chris Castle said in a statement, as shares in the company plummeted 92 per cent to a lifetime closing low of NZ$0.016 (.3t).

Other companies said the EPA’s decision may diminish interest in seabed mining in New Zealand.

“For people on the outside looking in, they’ll look at this and think the country is a bit confusing.,” said Michael Johnston, chief executive officer of Nautilus, which is working on a deep-sea project off Papua New Guinea and is in talks with New Zealand. “You’ve got one piece of legislation saying the project is approved and another saying it’s been rejected.”