New Zealand foreign affairs minister Winston Peters and the cross party political delegation stand with students from Niue High School. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Caleb Fotheringham
New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters, says mining is critical to transition away from fossil fuels, but the call for a moratorium in international waters by the previous government still stands.
Peters, who is also the foreign affairs minister, made the comments after visiting Nauru - a nation pushing alongside mining business, The Metals Company, for deep seabed mining in the high seas.
"If you want batteries, if you want to change the economy, then you are not going to get that by just dreaming about it and talking about it and waving your hands around," Peters told RNZ Pacific.
"What is required here is that those countries that are talking about the green future and the transition to the green future must understand that we cannot get there and make anything but a forlorn hope unless we are engaged in extraction."
In October 2022, then-Labour government said it would back a "conditional moratorium on deep sea mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction, until strong environmental rules can be agreed and backed up by robust science".
When asked if the call still stands, Peters said, "until you pull the signposts down, the signpost stands up".
He said he wanted a more rational discussion on deep sea mining and not "heart-centred virtue signalling".
Nauru is leading the charge for deep sea mining in international waters. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Caleb Fotheringham
He said Nauru first wanted an international code before it starts mining.
The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is currently meeting in Kingston, Jamaica to continue discussing deep sea mining regulations in the high seas.
A big discussion point during the July meeting last year was the two-year rule - a provision under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that once triggered means if regulations are not adopted within two years, mining licenses could be granted under whatever rules exist.
Nauru triggered the rule in 2021 that lapsed on 9 July 2023.
In the meantime, there has been a growing list of countries calling for at least some sort of pause on deep sea mining, now making up about 27 nations.
Environmental group Greenpeace said mining companies like The Metals Company were desperately pushing for the quick adoption of regulations.
"Pushing for regulations is like they are telling us 'we know we will destroy the last pristine ecosystem of earth, but we will do it by the book'," campaigner Louisa Casson, who is attending Jamaica meeting said.
The group said both the Pacific and Aotearoa were on the frontline of the campaign against seabed mining.
Greenpeace Aotearoa deep sea mining campaigner Juressa Lee said generations of indigenous people have endured extractive colonial industries that have caused biodiversity loss, accelerated the climate crisis, and increased inequity and human rights breaches.
"The attempt to mine the seabed [in New Zealand], and The Metals Company's plans for the wider Pacific is colonisation and extractivism in action, and we must resist."
Last week, the US state of Hawaii last week also banned deep sea mining after it was signed into law by Governor Josh Green.
The new legislation, Hawaii Seabed Mining Prevention Act, prohibits the extraction and removal of minerals in state waters and bans issuing permits associated with seabed mining activity.
The Pacific has mixed opinions on the issue, with the Cook Islands in an exploration phase in its nations waters.
Premier of Niue Dalton Tagelagi meets with New Zealand foreign affairs minister Winston Peters. Photo: Ben McKay
Niue Premier Dalton Tagelagi said there will never be deep sea mining in the island's waters for as long as he was in power.
"If you are talking about neighbours like the Cook Islands and others that is their business."
