Seabed mining in Aotearoa and beyond

Seabed mining in Aotearoa could be a fast track to deep sea mining in the Pacific.

One of the first projects that could go ahead under the controversial Fast Track Approvals Bill is seabed mining off the coast of Taranaki. Unless it's stopped, this could be the world's first commercial seabed mine. The Australian-owned company Trans Tasman Resources is planning to suck up 50 million tons of iron sand every year for 35 years to extract vanadium, iron and titanium. Experts say it will have a devastating impact on marine life, such as the rare pygmy blue whale and the critically endangered Māui dolphin. They say sand mining would dig up a large area of the seabed and dump most of that over a huge part of the South Taranaki Bite.

Under the FastTrack legislation Trans Tasman Resources could get the goahead to mine, despite losing numerous legal hearings and facing fierce opposition from the local indigenous iwi and hapū, environmentalists and the community.

If they are given permission to mine the seabed, that could open the floodgates to this dangerous new industry to gain a foothold here, across the Pacific and around the world.