Nautilus are you nuts!

Nautilus are you nuts!
Second large earthquake near proposed Solwara 1 site
Friday 12 October 2018

The United States Geological Survey reported that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck close to the proposed Solwara 1 deep sea mine in Papua New Guinea yesterday at 7am local time. This follows a magnitude 6.6 quake nearby in March.

Dr. Helen Rosenbaum, of the Deep Sea Mining Campaign said: “Thankfully there have been no reports of damage or injury. However, this is the second large earthquake this year right near the Solwara 1 deep sea mine proposed by Canadian company Nautilus [1]. It's also in the vicinity of several other exploration tenements in the Bismarck Sea between East New Britain and New Ireland Provinces that Nautilus aspires to turn into seafloormines."

Dr. Rosenbaum continued: "Can you imagine the damage and pollution that would occur if Solwara 1 and these other proposed deep sea mines become a reality? Nautilus plans to have a 1.6 km long pipe moving ore slurry from the sea floor to the surface. An Independent oceanographic assessment indicates that currents in Bismarck Sea would carry pollution from the Solwara 1 shorewards towards New Ireland province, the Duke of York Islands and possibly to the coast of East New Britain[2].

"Where are our emergency response plans?"' asks Jonathan Mesulam from the Alliance of Solwara Warriors[3] and a local community leader whose village is located in New Ireland province, only 25km from the proposed Solwara 1 project.

"There is already great uncertainty about the environmental damage that will occur from the normal operation of Solwara 1. But such serious earthquakes will cause a catastrophe! Nautilus's equipment has never been tested under these extreme conditions. We have no capacity at either the provincial or national level to deal with such an event."

Jonathan Mesulam continued, " Papua New Guinea sits right on the Pacific Ring of Fire. What was our Government thinking by approving Solwara 1. And not only did they approve the project but they have also invested heavily to purchase a 15% stake in this experimental venture. The company's only credible shareholder Anglo American divested itself of this dodgy project in May and Nautilus's share price has now hit an all-time low[4][5]. Why is our National Government still backing this loser?"

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