Prospecting in Chathams

Press, 18 June 1982, Page 18

Prospecting in Chathams

PA Wellington Interest in minerals in the Chatham Islands intensified this week with a second bid to tap large-scale phosphorite deposits. Applications for five limited-impact prospecting licences were staked over the island's main lagoon by Mineral Exploration of New Zealand, a subsidiary of the United States’ Union Oil giant. Fletcher Challenge is checking wax deposits in the island’s peat for conversion to fuels, in a joint venture with Consolidated Minerals which was stepped up last summer. Fletcher Challenge is also in partnership with the West German Government on proposals to mine phosphorite nodules along the Chatham Rise towards Lyttelton. The latest phosphorite stake, covering about 14,500 ha of Te Whanga Lagoon, is expected to take only two weeks of work after the licence is granted to produce first results.

A small raft with a pyra-mid-shaped structure supporting a small drilling rig wiD take sediment and core samples from the lagoon bed. Results will be analysed in California to check predictions that have already located one promising phosphorite area near Tahiti.

Environmental effects of the prospecting on the highly rated wetland lagoon area are expected to be minimal, according to the company.. Initial details have been outlined to local county councillors, and a public

meeting- is planned on the island early next month. Interest in the lagoon area is based on geological reconstructions suggesting that the lagoon was once above sea level, and its bed now rich in phosphorite similar to Nauru,

Christmas Island, and the Chathams Rise. The prospecting applications for three-year terms suggest that any development would be large-scale and provide jobs for up to 200 people.