Speaker: Feds did not permit mining of NMI seafloor deposits

House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) said yesterday that the U.S. Department of the Interior assured him that no commercial companies have been issued licenses to mine the CNMI seafloor, although the federal agency said mineral deposits such as gold and iron-manganese nodules do, or are likely to occur, within the CNMI’s exclusive economic zones.
Deleon Guerrero was able to pose questions to Interior officials on the reported existence of seafloor minerals during his recent trip to Washington, D.C. to meet with federal officials on a host of issues.

“The Interior said no licenses were issued to any commercial companies,” the speaker told Saipan Tribune yesterday. “They cited the Outer Continental Shelf Act or OSCA, under which the Interior is the agency authorized to grant licenses for seabed mining in coastal states, but not to U.S. territories such as the CNMI.”

Deleon Guerrero said Interior cited a U.S. Geological Survey report on marine mineral resources of the Pacific islands.

The USGS report said mineral deposits that do, or are likely to occur within CNMI exclusive economic zones include “cobalt-rich iron-manganese crusts, iron-manganese nodules, phosphorite deposits, epithermal gold deposits, hydrothermal manganese and iron oxide deposits, hydrothermal manganese and iron oxide deposits, hydrothermal polymetallic sulfides, insular and lagoonal phosphorite deposits, shallow-water sand and gravel deposits, and shallow- and deep-water precious coral.”

Deleon Guerrero earlier got hold of online reports citing international seafloor mining companies’ interests in mining multimillion worth of high-grade hydrothermal deposits rich in copper, zinc, and lead with a high gold and silver content, as well as large oil and natural gas reserves within CNMI area.

The online publications stated that two seafloor mining companies—Canada-based Nautilus Minerals and Australia-based Neptune Minerals—have applied for mining exploration licenses in the CNMI.

But Deleon Guerrero said no licenses were granted to these firms, based on information from the Interior.

Now that the CNMI has control over many of its submerged lands, the speaker believes the CNMI has the authority to issue mining licenses for minerals within 3-mile submerged lands.

Another issue that Interior officials discussed with the speaker is that the Interior secretary is supposed to convey to the CNMI all rights, titles, and interests of the United States in deposits of oil, gas, and other minerals in the submerged lands within a certain period.

The speaker, citing Interior officials, said that the 60-day period ends later this week, starting from Jan. 15 when President Barack Obama signed a proclamation temporarily withholding the transfer to the CNMI of submerged lands around five islands that are either part of a national marine monument or under lease to the U.S. military.

In January, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) asked Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to take action on the transfer of oil, gas, and other mineral rights to the CNMI now that the transfer of submerged lands in the CNMI from the federal government to the Commonwealth has begun.