THE GEOLOGY OF SEA-FLOOR MASSIVE SULPHIDES
6
Tuvalu
Samoa
Marshall
Islands
Tonga Niue
Fiji
Cook
Islands
Federated States
of Micronesia
Papua
New Guinea
Solomon
Islands
Vanuatu
Nauru
Palau
Timor Leste
Kiribati
Kiribati
Kiribati
(Gilbert Iss.)
(Phoenix Iss.)
(Line Iss.)
Exclusive economic zone
Participating Paci c Island States
Figure 1. The Pacific ACP States (i.e. Africa-Caribbean-Pacific Group of States) participating in the European Union funded SPC Deep
Sea Minerals Project.
The existence of known high-grade SMS deposits in the Pacific, and the progress towards ex-
traction of metals from the Manus Basin site (Papua New Guinea), has increased interest around
the region in the commercial development of SMS. To support Pacific Islands in governing and
developing these natural resources, SOPAC Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community
(SPC) is providing a range of information products, technical and policy support, and capacity
building activities through the Deep Sea Minerals in the Pacific Islands Region: a Legal and Fiscal
Framework for Sustainable Resource Management Project (Figure 1). This publication, created as
part of that project, brings together expert knowledge on the geology and biology of SMS depos-
its and information about best-practices related to environmental management and technical
aspects of mineral exploration and extraction.
