Pacific Mining – Future Proofing or Fool's Gold?

“It looks like a chocolate truffle, but don't eat it,” jokes Cook Islands Librarian and Museum curator Jane Mason, as she reaches into a display case and pulls out a jagged, black rock.

The “rock” it carries may determine the future of this Pacific nation.

These are what scientists call polymineral nodules, which formed over thousands of years as minerals accumulated on the seafloor.

These ancient formations, filled with cobalt, nickel and manganese, are now valuable: the metals go into the batteries that power modern life, from electric cars to cell phones.

It has become a source of friction in the low-lying Pacific islands, which are among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

As sea levels rise, the ocean – or moana, as it is called in Maori and many other Polynesian languages ​​- remains their greatest threat, but also their greatest resource.

They fish there and live off the tourists drawn to its turquoise waters, but the Cook Islands now want to drill deeper, up to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet), where the nodules are located.

It's a pet project of Prime Minister Mark Brown, who believes it will reshape the country of 15 volcanic islands in the South Pacific.

The hope is that income from these minerals will lead to more prosperity than the islanders ever imagined.

But the promise of deep-sea mining may carry an environmental price.

Proponents say harvesting these nodules for use in renewable energy sources will help the world transition away from fossil fuels. They also believe it is less invasive than mining on land.

But critics say there is still much unknown about the impact of mining what is considered one of the last untouched parts of the planet. They say there should be a pause on deep-sea mining until there is more research into its effects on marine life and the ocean ecosystem.

Jane says that when she was growing up, nodules were thought to only be useful for making knife blades.

“We had no idea cell phones, wind turbines and electric cars were coming.”

Nodules are a family conversation here and Gene is very much in favor of extracting them. Her husband works as a lawyer for one of the companies that received exploration licenses from the government.

The library where she works is full of holiday reads left behind or donated by tourists – tourism is the country's largest source of income, accounting for more than 70% of GDP.

It contains newspaper archives.

Gene placed a copy of an article from the Cook Islands News into my hand. It's from 1974 and the headline is “100% Manganese Nodule Concentration”.

“My point is we've been talking about this for over 50 years, and I think the time for a moratorium is over.”

The Pacific Ocean covers nearly a third of the planet. The nodules buried in it have been known since the nineteenth century.

But in the 1960s, American geologist John L. Merrow published a book showing that the seafloor could supply many of the world's mineral needs.

It's not an easy process – nor a cheap one. But when prices for metals like nickel rose in 2008, it looked more attractive.

Then Covid hit. The tourists left and the money dried up.

Combined with the impact of climate change – rising sea levels and unpredictable weather patterns – the country quickly realized it needed something else to fall back on.

The Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority estimates that there are 12 billion wet tons of polymetallic nodules in its waters.

Some people argue that seabed mining is not financially viable. With technology moving so quickly, there may not be a demand for these metals by the time they start.

But there are takers. In 2022, the Cook Islands granted three licenses to companies to begin exploring the possibility of deep-sea mining.

They are now working with scientists to research the environmental impact.

says Hans Smit, who runs Moana Minerals, one of the companies with an exploration licence.

“We have this lifestyle, this lifestyle comes at a price. If we don't want to mine and we don't want to get all these minerals, we should stop doing almost everything we're doing.”

Hans is from South Africa and moved here to be part of the community. For him, deep-sea minerals are a “wonderful resource” that can benefit islanders.

While there is a growing call to delay deep sea mining until regulations are put in place by the International Seabed Authority, this only applies to international waters.

The Cook Islands still has huge reserves of its own in its national waters – its exclusive economic zone – so it can move forward regardless.

“We're known as small island developing nations, but we like to call ourselves big ocean nations,” says Rima Brown, a young Cook Islander with a degree in geography, who jokingly calls herself “the poster child for deep-sea mining.” .

Rima works as a seafloor mineralogist and spends most of her time mapping the seafloor.

“While our territory is only about 200 square kilometres, we have an exclusive economic zone of about 2 million square kilometres,” she says.

This is equivalent to Mexico.

“It's the only resource we have,” says Jin.

“(Industrialized countries) are destroying our atmosphere and then they have the audacity to tell us, 'Let's leave your stuff at the bottom of the sea.' How dare they tell us we can't touch our resources?”

But it's not just outsiders who oppose deep-sea mining in the Cook Islands.

Off the coast of Rarotonga, the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands, a crowd of surfers, kayakers and swimmers gather around a large vaka, a traditional Polynesian raft.

“Te Moana, Te Moana, Paruru ia ra, Paruru ia ra,” the people on board repeat — “Protect our ocean,” they chant in Māori.

“We are asking for more time to do robust independent research, and more time to better educate our staff on what the potential risks might look like,” says Alana Matamaro-Smith of Te Epocaria, an environmental organization based in Rarotonga.

“We are seeing infrastructure built here in Rarotonga, accommodation for offshore mining companies here, and we have draft mining regulations in place already. Actions speak much louder than words at the moment.”

Prime Minister Mark Brown, who is leading the charge, also happens to be the Tourism Minister and Seabed Minerals Minister. He has made it clear that he wants the Cook Islands to be a leader in the industry.

“It provides the opportunity for our children to be able to study at any university in the world without having to take out a student loan,” says Brown, who has a vision of following Norway's lead in creating a sovereign wealth fund.

“It allows us to get the kind of health care that our people have to go to New Zealand or Australia for. It gives our young people the opportunity to live fulfilling lives here in our country, without having to go to other countries to provide for their needs. Trade is an industry that does not exist here.”

And for those who say the country threatened by climate change may become part of the problem, he says he's trying to find solutions.

He added: “We know that over the past 20 years we have not been able to obtain financing from larger emitting countries, so we have to look for ways to protect ourselves.”

But activist John Hosking is not convinced.

She is from one of the outer islands, Moki Island, which has a population of only 300 people.

While the government has organized consultations with residents across the islands as well as large numbers of expatriates in New Zealand, it says the potential downsides of the industry are not being discussed.

“People don't like to rock the boat on the outer islands,” she says. “So, when we have these consultations, there will probably only be three of us who will speak.”

John says this is life on the island, and many refer to the Prime Minister only as Mark. She also says that his wife is married to her husband's cousin.

But family ties do not prevent them from being considered problematic in asking questions.

“When the locals say: ‘Oh no, I stay neutral about (deep sea mining)’, I say: ‘You can’t drive very far in neutral,’” she laughs.

“There are times in your life when you need to actually take a stand for something — we're talking about our future here.”

Additional reporting by Lyndell Markwell.

You can listen to Katie Watson A documentary from the Cook Islands on a mission On BBC World Service Radio.