Environmental Information
Chatham Rock Phosphate is acutely aware of its responsibilities to conduct both the mineral prospecting programme and extraction of the rock phosphate, in a manner causing minimal disruption to the marine environment.
We have engaged the relevant NZ Government Crown Research Institute, the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA), to help us ensure that our activities cause minimal disruption to the marine environment and we do not impact adversely on animal or plant habitats. Specifically, NIWA (which has already mapped the Chatham Rise seabed and its flora and fauna in close detail) has already and will continue to assist us in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the way we will need to operate to minimise environmental impact from potential extraction activities. This involves our plans for both sampling and extraction.
Dr Mike Patrick of REM Ltd, Golder Associates and NIWA are now engaged to assist CRP’s environmental objectives of ensuring that the company’s activities where practicable cause minimal disruption to the marine environment.
CRP has actively been collating and collecting a range of marine information (oceanography, habitat, etc.) to develop an informed view on the marine environment and the potential impacts that exploration and extraction may have on this environment.
The company is currently preparing a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment which it plans to submit as part of a Marine Consent application.
Our prospecting licence requires that all prospecting or extraction activity will be undertaken strictly in accordance with the environmental guidelines published by the International Marine Minerals Society “Code for Environmental Management of Marine Mining”.