Clear Facts, Careful Process: Where the Cook Islands Stands on Seabed Minerals
Public discussion on seabed minerals has raised questions about transparency, representation, science, and decision-making. Here is where the Cook Islands currently stands, what the law requires, and why the country remains in an exploration-only phase. Those questions are fair. People should expect answers that are clear, straight, and respectful.
The first point is the one that gets lost most often. The Cook Islands are still in an exploration-only phase. Exploration is not the same as mining. It does not give a company permission to harvest minerals. It allows research, mapping, sampling, and environmental work to continue while the country builds its understanding of what is in our deep ocean and what the risks may be.
SBMA has stated publicly that no commercial extraction can happen without separate and extensive approvals.
Why the process matters
If the Cook Islands ever consider minerals harvesting, strict conditions would need to be met. SBMA does not make that decision on its own.
SBMA would assess whether any proposed activity is technically, financially, and socially sustainable for the Cook Islands. The National Environment Service would determine whether environmental risks can be properly managed.
That is the safeguard built into the process. It is also why the current stage matters.
Who does what
Recent public discussion has raised questions about who is involved, who has expertise, and who gets a voice. Those are fair questions, too.
But the answer is not as simple as people sometimes make it sound online. The seabed minerals framework has different parts because different jobs need to be done.
SBMA is a regulator. The Licensing Panel is the technical body that reviews exploration licence applications. It includes expertise in the environment, engineering, finance, legal matters, extractive industries, and maritime issues. The National Environment Service has its own environmental role under the wider framework.
This separation exists to support good governance and proper scrutiny.
The role of the SBM Advisory Committee
The SBM Advisory Committee also sits in that wider picture, and its purpose is sometimes misunderstood.
The Committee’s role is to strengthen community representation in the sector. It brings together leaders from religious, aronga mana, private sector, sporting, youth, and academic backgrounds. It was not created to replace technical experts, regulators, or environmental authorities.
Its roles are different. It exists so that community voices, values, and public perspective are part of the conversation as the country works through a complex national issue.
“The Cook Islands have not yet decided to permit minerals harvesting. What it has done is commit to a precautionary, science-based process.”
Outreach across our people and communities
SBMA’s public outreach programme remains an important part of the seabed minerals conversation. Hearing from our communities, stakeholders, and Cook Islanders living overseas is part of the work, not an afterthought.
That is why engagement continues across different spaces, including community consultations, stakeholder meetings, and diaspora sessions in New Zealand and Australia. Recent consultations in Aitutaki were one part of that ongoing programme.
Rarotonga is also part of that wider outreach, and SBMA is currently preparing consultations there. This work gives communities and stakeholders the chance to hear information, ask questions, and form their own views. We will share updates through our official channels once the details are confirmed.
Company structure and public questions
Questions have also been raised about Moana Minerals and CIIC. These questions should be answered plainly.
SBMA has publicly identified Moana Minerals Limited as a subsidiary of Ocean Minerals LLC. SBMA’s public company page also lists Moana Minerals as a Cook Islands-registered company with a registered address in Rarotonga.
CIIC’s seabed minerals interest is separate. CIIC has publicly stated that it sits through Cobalt Seabed Resources Ltd, a 50/50 joint venture with Global Sea Mineral Resources, a company based in Belgium.
These are different entities, with different roles, and public discussion is clearer when those lines stay clear.
A careful national conversation
There is also a broader debate around all of this. Some people say more research is needed before the country can make any informed decisions. Others say caution means slowing the process down even further.
Those views exist, and they should not be ignored. But whatever view people hold, the current position remains the same: the Cook Islands are still gathering evidence, and no decision to allow minerals harvesting has been made.
That is the point worth holding onto.
This is not the stage for shortcuts, assumptions, or loud claims that skip over the process. It is the stage for careful work, open questions, and better public understanding. People do not have to agree. But they should at least be working on the same basic facts.
For SBMA, that means staying steady: explaining the difference between exploration and harvesting, fronting up in communities, sharing what the law requires, listening carefully, and keeping evidence ahead of noise.
That is how trust is built, slowly and properly, in a space as sensitive as this one.
The Cook Islands have not yet made a decision to permit minerals harvesting. What it has done is committed to a precautionary, science-based process: gathering information, testing assumptions, strengthening local understanding, and requiring evidence before any future pathway can be considered.
Karere no te Kuki Airani
I teia atianga te rave nei rāi te Kuki Airani i te kimi matatioanga ki roto i te minera takere moana, ko te aiteanga i reira kare e kerianga moana i akatikaia ake. Te raveia nei rai te rangaanga, te mapuʻanga e te akara oonu ki roto i te turanga o te aorangi. Ko tetai uatu akakeuanga no te akamata i te kerianga i te mekameka moana ka na roto te reira i te tukuanga tika a te Runanga Takere Moana e te Tuanga Taporoporo. Kia akapapu katoaia e auraka te aorangi e tamanamanataia e pera kia rauka mai te puapinga no te ipukarea.
Kua akanooia te angaanga a te tuanga akakeu, te aronga kite pakari e te au mata o te iti tangata no te turu i te tū maoraora e te akatereanga tau. Ka rave uatu rai matou i te au uipaanga ki te iti tangata ki runga i to tatou pa enua e to te akau roa. Te tauta pakari nei matou i te kimi i te ravenga tau tei turuia e te kite taieni e pera te kite tupuna, te koikoianga i te papa akapapu no te akamatutu i to matou marama i mua ake ka atuitui ei i te kaveinga rangatira no te au ra ki mua.
E te iti tangata Kuki Airani, to tatou kaveinga i teia ra e te au ra ki mua kia akatinamou tatou i te reira ki runga i te iti tangata, to tatou aorangi e te turanga rangatira. I runga atu ra i teia ta tatou akangateiteianga i te pou toru manava o te Ipukarea koia te Evangelia, Te Ui Ariki e te Kavamani. Ko te karere tango i konei kia ruru tatou i te ngai okotai, okotai ngakau, okotai inangaro, okotai reo, okotai orama, okotai vaerua. Te taui nei te ata ao, te ngunguru nei te ʻaʻatuʻanga ngaru, te neke tu nei te matangi.
Eaa te akairo. E karere akamatakite, e reo porokiroki, e kura akamaroiroi ia tatou. Mouria mai teia raurau ipukarea, ei ngaki, ei monomono i te uki ki mua.
“Aore oa te paepae o Rongo e taea,E paepae tua tinitini, tua manomano, O taʻi ua e tae O te iiri o te rarama”
Kia Manuia from the SBMA Team