The company hopes to start mining on the sea floor by 2018, despite strong opposition from environmental activists and calls for caution from the scientific community.
But Nautilus’ chief executive officer Mike Johnston said his company had been conducting environmental impact studies since 2006.
He said the results had consistently shown the effects of the operation on the marine environment would be minimal.
“The total area directly impacted by mining is
less than point one of a square kilometre,” Johnston said.
“Impacts that are expected from the mining projects do not extend outside the mining lease.
“There are no tailings associated with our seafloor mining project which is pretty much unheard of for mining.”
Nautilus’ copper-gold project, Solwara 1, is under development in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea.
The company has been granted the Environment Permit and Mining Lease required for resource development at this site. – Radio New Zealand