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Extending terrestrial mining law to the seabed: Regulatory fit and the Papua New Guinea experience
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DOI：10.1016/j.marpol.2026.107199.png)
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Abstract
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As interest in seabed mining grows, coastal states face a foundational regulatory question: should offshore extraction be governed through the extension and adaptation of existing terrestrial mining law, or through purpose-built seabed minerals legislation? Bespoke regimes adopted in some Pacific states have attracted scholarly attention, but the extension pathway has been comparatively neglected, despite being the path taken in the world’s first commercial seabed mining authorisation. This article addresses that gap through an analysis of Papua New Guinea. The Solwara 1 project, authorised in 2011 under existing mining law, and the draft Mining Bill 2025 – the most developed legislative attempt yet to adapt a terrestrial mining regime offshore – together capture the full arc of PNG’s extension pathway. Using a regulatory-fit framework, we trace this trajectory from the 1998–99 Offshore Minerals Policy Green Paper, through the application of the Mining Act 1992 and Environment Act 2000 to Solwara 1, to the offshore provisions of the Bill. The collapse of Solwara 1 revealed structural pressures around fiscal exposure, environmental stewardship, social harm prevention, procedural legitimacy and consent, and distributive justice. These pressures have, unevenly, informed subsequent legislative recalibration. We argue that regulatory misfit at extractive frontiers is not a symptom of weak institutional capacity but an inherent feature of extending established legal frameworks into novel ecological and technological domains. The article offers the first dedicated analysis of the extension pathway in coastal-state seabed mining governance, with practical implications for other coastal states now weighing how to govern seabed extraction within their jurisdictions.
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