Minister of the Sea Ricardo Serrão Santos has welcomed the ‘masterplan’ that sees the sea as a ‘pillar’ for Portugal’s economic recovery, but warns there should be no deep-sea mining around the Azores. Choosing his words carefully, he said deep-sea mining would compromise the archipelago’s biodiversity and is “not urgent” as he is convinced the world has sufficient mineral deposits which it can mine on land.
This is definitely a different attitude to predecessor Ana Paula Vitorino who seemed all for any kind of mining and mineral extraction activity at sea (click here).
As for the masterplan, it is due to be discussed in detail in parliament tomorrow and encourages mining and mineral extraction of all kinds (click here).
