HC Deb 17 November 1997 vol 301 cc10-1W
Mr. Collins

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the ownership of mineral rights around the Chagos Archipelago. [15829]

Mr. Tony Lloyd

The mineral rights on the continental shelf around the British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) are vested in the Crown. But the Territory and the mineral rights will be ceded to Mauritius when the Territory is no longer required for defence purposes. Meanwhile we have no intention of allowing mineral prospecting.