Antarctic meeting ends

Press, 30 January 1984, Page 8

Antarctic meeting ends

NZPA-Reuter Washington Representatives of 16 countries have ended an eight-dayt conference at the State Department in Washington on working out a treaty or convention on mining in Antarctica. Mr C. D. Beeby, chairman of the group and an Assistant Secretary in the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the working group reached no general agreement and would meet

again in Tokyo in May. But he told reporters he believed the representatives agreed that mining would not be permitted in special environmental areas and that the final treaty would allow mining by all type of groups — companies, consortia, State organisations, or States themselves. He said no suggestion had been made that Antarctica should be divided into areas

to be mined by various countries. Mr Beeby said the treaty or convention would be an extension of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty which prohibits use of the continent for military purposes. He said there was a “developing mythology” that there were vast mineral resources in Antarctica but no scientific proof of what minerals might be there or in what amounts.