Minerals exploration claim unlikely to derail Baltic gas pipeline

Geology professor sceptical that prospectors will find anything in the Gulf of Finland

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By Jenni Leukumavaara
     
      Experts do not believe that an unusual minerals exploration claim for an area of the Gulf of Finland off Helsinki would prove an obstacle to the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline on the bed of the Gulf.
      The application was filed by a group of businessmen who have veiled themselves in secrecy.
     
The group reportedly left their application with the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy at the end of August, claiming a strip that is 17 kilometres in length, running north-south, and 50 metres wide, sitting squarely on the longitude line of 25°W.
      The matter was first published in the regional daily Kymen Sanomat last Thursday.
     
According to the legal counsel of the applicants Kari Silvennoinen, his clients will not grant permission for the construction of the pipeline across their claim.
      The Nord Stream pipeline is to carry natural gas between Vyborg in Russia and Greifswald in Germany. The multi-billion dollar venture is controversial on environmental grounds and has also raised worries about security in some of the countries with a Baltic Sea coastline.
      "In claims such as this what is critical is the date on which the claim has been deposited with the ministry. In the case of the pipeline project, it is still at the environmental impact assay stage, or in other words no permits exist for a gas pipeline, or for any other pipelines, for that matter", says Silvennoinen.
     
The peculiar application is being scrutinised long and hard within the ministry.
      The applicants will have to show that their intentions are the genuine search for ore on the sea bed, and not for instance a left-field attempt to stonewall the advance of the pipeline project.
      In the Gulf off the Helsinki coastline, several border areas and the 2005 Act on the Exclusive Economic Zone complicate matters somewhat.
      A similar case was resolved three years ago in the Supreme Administrative Court, when the verdict went against the claim applicant. At that time the applicant's primary motive was seen as attempting to prevent the actions of another party.
     
According to the assumptions of the applicants in this latest case, the area in question is believed to contain for instance copper, silver, nickel, and platinum ores.
      Veli-Pekka Salonen, Professor of Geology at the University of Helsinki, does not go so far as to categorically rule out the likelihood of finding these minerals down there, but describes it as "extremely unlikely".
      "If there were large mineral deposits there, they would show up as tracers on the Estonian coast", believes Salonen.
     
There has been relatively little by way of sub-sea mineral exploration in Finland, not least because the actual search process and the extraction of anything that is found are extremely expensive.
      Silvennoinen and his clients are to go to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy at the end of October to discuss the project.
      According to the ministry's Chief Inspector of Mines Pekka Suomela, a decision on the application could come at the end of November.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.10.2008


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Coastal states in Baltic Sea region reject tight schedule of planned gas pipeline (6.6.2008)
  Gas pipeline route survey reveals effects of pollution on Baltic Sea bottom (23.4.2008)
  Swedish government sends back Nord Stream gas pipeline application, demands clarification on environmental impact (13.2.2008)
  Cost of Baltic Sea gas pipeline looks to be higher than expected (8.1.2008)
  Politicians take mainly positive view of Lipponen pipeline lobbying effort (18.8.2008)
  Ex-PM Paavo Lipponen to serve as adviser to gas pipeline builder (15.8.2008)
  Lengths of pipe for Baltic Sea gas pipeline arrive in Kotka (10.6.2008)

Links:
  Nord Stream (Wikipedia)

JENNI LEUKUMAAVAARA / Helsingin Sanomat