Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

longer an area is held, more information should have been acquired on it on it
to facilitate a decision on whether or not to establish a mine.
In relation to the development of an offshore mining policy, Mr.
Wanjik said that the Government was considering the different features of the
land-based and marine environments. In this regard, he pointed out that the
ocean and what is above and below it are all different resources. He also said
that Papua New Guinea requires regulations and a policy for marine mineral
resources in order to encourage further investments to develop these
resources.
Exploration license
Mr. Wanjik said that the draft Offshore Mining Policy of Papua New
Guinea foresees five different types of tenements under the offshore licensing
regime. These are Prospector’s Right, Exploration License, Mining Lease,
Lease for Mining Purposes and Mining Easement. He said he would limit his
presentation to the Prospector’s Right and the Exploration License.
As concerns Prospectors’ right, Mr. Wanjik said that it is being
suggested that the term should be for three years and renewable for another
three-year term. Mr. Wanjik said that depending on the application, the area
under the license would be unrestricted. He said that the applicant would
have to demonstrate its capability to undertake and finance the work under
the application. Mr. Wanjik also said that no exclusivity is provided with this
license because of the size of area, and because no drilling is envisaged. He
said that when drilling is carried out this would normally occur under an
exploration license.
In relation to an Exploration License, Mr. Wanjik said that under the
draft Offshore Mining Policy, instead of a two-year license for exploration that
is renewable for two-year periods, it has been proposed that the term of the
license should be for five years, and should be renewable for five-year
periods. In addition, he said that it has been proposed that the maximum size
of an exploration area should be 1000 sub-blocks or about 3,500 square
kilometres.
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