Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown spent a week in Aotearoa in November talking to NZ-based Cook Islanders about deep sea mining in their home country. He’s pictured here in Dunedin. (Photo: Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority)

The Cook Islands prime minister, Mark Brown, was recently in Aotearoa for a week-long tour of community halls and churches.

His mission? To convince the large Cook Island population living here of the benefits of deep sea mining.

Teuila Fuatai was at the first meeting in Māngere.

With his bright blue shirt and neck ‘ei or flower garlands, Prime Minister Mark Brown looked right at home in Māngere’s Enuamanu Hall.

Brown sat centre-stage, flanked by Bishop Tutai Pere (chair of the government’s Seabed Minerals Authority advisory committee), Tou Travel Ariki (the kaumaiti nui or president of the House of Ariki, the body of high chiefs that advises the Cook Islands parliament), and Alex Herman (the government’s now outgoing Seabed Minerals commissioner), among others.

As one person observed, it was “an intimidating line-up” of the country’s political, religious and cultural leaders.

There to listen was a largely elderly crowd of over a hundred Cook Islanders who’ve made New Zealand their home.

Brown was undoubtedly the main attraction for this audience. He spoke convincingly of the anticipated benefits of deep-sea mining, about university scholarships for young Cook Islanders, and infrastructure basics like good roads and better air access to the pā enua or outer islands, where the cost and availability of flights remain a major issue.

The message from more than two hours of speeches and presentations was clear: A future with mining in the Cook Islands will give us and our people options that we don’t have right now.

“There were a lot of examples around how this industry was leading to ‘firsts’ for our country,” said one attendee, Charlotte Samuela. “Like it’s the first time we’re getting to look at the deep sea, or the first time we’re leading our own research mission as Cook Islanders.”

Charlotte grew up in Rarotonga and now works as a theatre nurse in Auckland. Like many others there, she wanted to know more about how the government planned to manage environmental concerns.

“There was less emphasis on the potential impacts, or really what the research simply can’t tell us yet, which is what I would’ve liked.”

But deep-sea mining is an emerging industry, with very little available long-term research on its impacts, something the government representatives themselves acknowledged.

Still, the Cook Islands government has granted three mining companies exploratory research licenses in the Cook Islands’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). These companies are hoping to identify, and eventually access, vast deposits of rare earth minerals. It’s a plan that is dividing Cook Islanders at home and overseas.

Polymetallic nodules from the Cook Islands seabed. (Image from Moana Minerals Facebook.)

Many in the population are now discussing a previously unheard of resource: polymetallic nodules.

These potato-sized rocks, formed over millions of years at the bottom of the ocean, contain rare minerals like iron and copper. Once extracted, they can be used to make electric vehicle batteries, jet plane engines, smartphone touch screens and solar panels.

The polymetallic nodules in the Cook Islands’ EEZ are particularly valuable. They have a high concentration of cobalt, used in the manufacturing of rechargeable batteries.

In market terms, they’re a premium product.

Currently, most of the world’s cobalt is sourced from the Congo. Serious human rights and environmental concerns have been raised about mining practices there, garnering negative publicity for mining companies. At the same time, manufacturers have yet to tackle the difficult challenge of recycling minerals that persist in end-of-life batteries.

Demand for cobalt is only increasing as the world turns to battery-powered transport and renewable energies, putting areas with fresh access to this mineral in the spotlight.

In the Cook Islands, the nodules are plentiful. According to the latest research estimate provided by the Cook Islands’ Seabed Minerals Authority, the Cook Islands’ EEZ contains 6.7 billion tonnes of polymetallic nodules. As Alex Herman told the meeting in Māngere, that amounts to 780,000 fully-loaded cargo ships.

And it’s evident that the mining companies are doing everything they can to secure them.

Over the past few years the islands have become the focus of a concentrated charm offensive.

Louisa Castledine of Ocean Ancestors.

Louisa Castledine, who lives on Rarotonga and is a member of Ocean Ancestors, a collective opposed to deep-sea mining in the Cook Islands, has spoken out about how tricky it is to navigate this behaviour.

“Industry representatives have embedded themselves and the vast resources of their companies into our communities,” Louisa told me. “Almost every aspect of our society has received money, support or help from the mining industry — right down to one of our Cook Islands Māori language immersion preschools.”

Covering this issue over the past year, I’ve heard other stories — of mining executives moving to the islands, where they’re insinuating themselves into the community, buying up art from local artists, funding cultural events, supporting tourism operators, and pouring money into schools, sports and education.

The obvious question for Louisa, and others like her, is whether these executives would be so interested in the islands’ culture and people if they didn’t want to extract something far more valuable in return.

“On the surface,” she says, “this approach may seem like corporate responsibility, but it’s really a form of neo-colonialism.”

A naming and hosting ceremony was held in March 2023 to mark the arrival of mining research vessel Anuanua Moana at Avatiu harbour, Rarotonga. The ship belongs to Moana Minerals, one of three companies with exploration permits for deep-sea mining in ‘Avaiki Nui. Moana Minerals’ is a subsidiary of US mining company Ocean Minerals LLC. A competition was held to decide the mining vessel’s name. The student who came up with the name Anuanua Moana was presented with a $2000 cheque for her and her school from Moana Minerals and the ceremony. (Photo: Cook Islands’ Seabed Minerals Authority)

Right now, three mining companies have five-year exploration licences for the Cook Islands. One of those companies, Cobalt Seabed Resources (previously CIIC Seabed Resources) is part-owned by the government. At the end of the exploratory period in February 2027, the companies will then be able to apply for a licence to begin commercial mining operations.

While the government and mining advocates say the intent right now is simply exploration — research and information-gathering — the behaviour on the ground shows the industry is very much focused on the future, and the long game of commercial mining.

Manihiki in the Cook Islands. The surrounding seabed contains substantial deposits of the polymetallic nodules that mining companies are desperate to access. (Photo: Ocean Ancestors)

Gone are the days when resources were forcibly taken, as in Banaba. Today, the industry is literally buying community support.

From a Cook Islands Māori language immersion preschool to the annual independence festival Te Maeva Nui, many aspects of Cook Islands society now receive money, support or help from the mining industry. This includes scholarships for students, funding for schools and other development programmes.

At the Māngere meeting, it was clear that Prime Minister Brown and his delegation believe the industry will eventually do far more than just prop up festivals and schools. They see a future where mining gives the Cook Islands true independence, reducing reliance on other nations for help.

One speaker hoped the mining industry might pull home the many thousands of Cook Islanders living overseas. Another, Tou Travel Ariki, said mining will help “make the Cook Islands great again”.

Liam Koka’ua, a descendant of Ngāti Makea Ārera of Pokoinu, Rarotonga, who lives in Auckland, is deeply concerned about this relentless focus on commercial gain.

“He [Mark Brown] looks at the natural resources on our ocean floor and sees them offering benefits like diversifying our economy, hard cash for big infrastructure improvements, education funding for scholarships, and a national investment fund to maximise the mining-related cash. These are all worthy and valid things to want,” says Liam.

“But at the heart of it, mining is extraction for the sake of profit. It tramples on the very things that make us Indigenous, that tie us to our land and moana, and to our ancestors and future generations. It boils down to extracting the resources there, and then moving on to the next frontier. It’s a capitalist, western way of operating.”

Liam Koka’ua (Photo: Fliss Thompson)

Liam believes the government has prematurely bought into the mining industry’s sales pitch. And he’s not alone.

Louisa Castledine says her own wider family’s discussions illustrate some of the unknowns. They have no idea, for example, what sorts of jobs would be available to locals, where and how the extracted minerals would be processed, nor what onshore operations their tiny island would need to accommodate.

But raising such concerns and trying to change the trajectory that Mark Brown is championing will be a big ask. As Liam points out, if the Cook Islands government decides not to proceed beyond issuing exploration licences, it would likely trigger expensive court action.

That’s already happened elsewhere, he says, pointing to the situation in Mexico. The government there was successfully sued by deep-sea mining industry heavyweight Odyssey Marine Exploration after it rejected the company’s permit for phosphate dredging, following an exploration phase. Odyssey Marine Exploration took the case to arbitration in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which is part of the World Bank. In September this year, the ICSID found in favour of Odyssey Marine Exploration and ordered Mexico to pay US$37.1 million in damages to the company.

Notably, Odyssey Marine Exploration is one of the companies currently involved in the seabed exploration in the Cook Islands. It has exclusive operating rights for marine exploration in the Cook Islands for CIC, one of the three mining companies with exploration licences. Odyssey is part of an international consortium of companies providing financial and operational backing to CIC.

Right now, it’s clear that the Cook Islands is a hot property in the mining world. The value of deposits in its waters could run into the billions. The cost of an industry charm offensive, funding sports and cultural events, is a small price to pay when there’s so much money to be made.

What’s really needed, argue those like Louisa and Liam, is not only a robust and independent research process but a return to the Indigenous voices and values that will guide a truly sustainable future.

Teuila Fuatai. (Photo supplied)

After Auckland, the Cook Islands government delegation travelled to Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Tokoroa for four more community meetings. The final meeting in Tokoroa took place on Friday, November 22. 

Teuila Fuatai is an E-Tangata writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She is of Sāmoan descent.

 Made possible by the Public Interest Journalism Fund.

E-Tangata, 2024