Assessing the impacts of nodule mining on the deep-sea environment

Joint press release of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Alfred-Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Senckenberg-Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH, MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen, Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Utrecht University, Ifremer, Ghent University, Universidade de Aveiro, Institute of Marine Research Okeanos at Universidade dos Açores, Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, Centre for Marine and Environmental Research at Universidade do Algarve, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, Biodata Mining Group at University of Bielefeld, SNF Centre for Applied Research at NHH, German Marine Research Alliance, Joint Programming Initiative Healthy Seas and Oceans

21/2021

6 April 2021/Kiel, San Diego. Scientists of the JPI Oceans project "MiningImpact" are embarking on a 6-week long expedition to the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ) in the Pacific. Their goal is to carry out an independent scientific monitoring of the test of a prototype nodule collector machine conducted at the same time by the Belgian company Global Sea Resources (GSR). "MiningImpact" fully adheres to good scientific practice and will make all data publicly available. The findings of the integrated impact analysis will be transferred into recommendations for improved standards and guidelines of the Mining Code currently drafted by the International Seabed Authority (ISA).

The study sites of "MiningImpact" in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ) are located in water depths of more than 4,000 meters and more than 1,500 kilometers off the Mexican coast. Here, in an area of five million square kilometers, manganese nodules are abundantly found on the seafloor. Concentrated within the nodules are metals of economic interest for high-tech products used for energy transformation, mobility and telecommunication, such as copper, cobalt, and nickel.

This area between Mexico and Hawaii lies outside the Exclusive Economic Zones of any country and is part of the common heritage of mankind. This common area is managed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) based in Kingston, Jamaica, under the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which has been joined by 167 countries and the European Union. The ISA is currently working on the so-called "Mining Code", which will form the legal framework for future deep-sea mining activities, and is developed in an iterative process with several stakeholder consultations. These international regulations are expected to include stringent definitions of environmental standards, such as for establishing the environmental baseline, the monitoring of mining operations as well as threshold values for impacts and indicators of ecosystem health. To shape these regulations, scientific knowledge on the ecological impacts of deep-sea mining is urgently required. The JPI Oceans collaborative project "MiningImpact" is dedicated to contributing to the assessment of these impacts and to proposing solutions to prevent serious harm to the abyssal ecosystem.

During the 6-week long research voyage the scientists will take the opportunity to accomplish an independent monitoring of the test of the prototype of a nodule collector that is conducted by the Belgian company GSR at the same time. These trials will take place in the Belgian and German contract area of the CCZ. "This offers the unique opportunity for us to collect, for the first time, quantitative scientific evidence on the environmental consequences of nodule extraction in a more realistic scenario than was previously possible" explains project coordinator Dr. Matthias Haeckel from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. Investigations will not only address the direct impacts that the collector vehicle will produce by harvesting manganese nodules, but also those induced by the suspended sediment plume that is created by this process and affects a much larger area. The data will provide the "MiningImpact" researchers with information on ecosystem consequences of a potential future mining that cannot be drawn from the small-scale benthic impact experiments conducted in the past.

At the same time a fully integrated monitoring approach is tested that will serve future needs for the surveillance of human activities in the deep sea to ensure that they comply with environmental standards and targets. "Employing state-of-the-art scientific equipment will allow us to determine the spread of the suspended sediment plume created by the vehicle harvesting the nodules as well as the blanketing of the adjacent seabed by resettling fallout from this plume. We will finally be able to put numbers to this type of impact", says Dr. Henko De Stigter from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), who is leading the plume sensor group on board.

Together with the manganese nodules the collector machine is expected to remove the top 10-15 centimeters of the seafloor and the fauna living on and within it. "In addition to surveying the loss of biodiversity across different faunal classes, our work also includes studies on biogeochemical fluxes, microbial turnover rates and ecosystem functioning, in-situ ecotoxicology, release of trace metals from the suspended sediment plume as well as emissions of noise and light by the collector vehicle and much more", summarizes Dr. Haeckel the main goals of the expedition. Among the specialized instruments that will be deployed are two remotely-operated vehicles (ROV), an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), in situ oxygen profilers and experiment chambers, in situ pumps as well as sixty inter-calibrated hydro-acoustic and optical sensors for measuring the suspended sediment concentrations and particle sizes.

The JPI Oceans project "MiningImpact" has investigated the ecological consequences of deep-sea mining and how the impacts may be mitigated since 2015. It included an assessment of decade-old tracks of previous studies as well as small experiments to understand the interaction between nodule removal and the responses of deep-sea life. The first phase, which is already completed, provided substantial first insights into the expected longer-term effects of deep-sea mining. Now, in the second phase, the scientists plan to conduct a comprehensive monitoring of the immediate environmental impacts of the first test of an industrial collector prototype in real-time. However, the first attempt to test the collector by GSR in spring 2019 did not take place due to a technical failure of this instrument. The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) has now chartered the multi-purpose vessel Island Pride and invited "MiningImpact" partners to conduct their independent research of the collector test.

"The research of the MiningImpact consortium is extremely important and essential to ensure that the marine environment in the deep sea will be protected according to highest possible standards", says Professor Katja Matthes, Director of GEOMAR. "The results of this project will provide the scientific evidence that is urgently needed by the International Seabed Authority as input for improved standards and guidelines of the Mining Code currently drafted by the ISA", Matthes continues.

After more than ten days of self-isolation in San Diego and repeated Covid-19 PCR tests the scientists are ready to embark on the expedition that is carried out under strict hygiene conditions.

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Background: MiningImpact - Environmental impacts and risks of deep-sea mining

The second project phase of "MiningImpact" (2018-22), builds on the first phase and addresses three major research foci concerning deep-sea mining: (1) the larger scale environmental impact caused by the suspended sediment plume, (2) the regional connectivity of species and the biodiversity of biological assemblages and their resilience to impacts, and (3) the integrated effects on ecosystem functions, such as the benthic foodweb and biogeochemical processes.

The "MiningImpact" project is conducted independently of DEME-GSR's activities and does not receive any financial contributions from DEME-GSR. DEME-GSR does not receive any funding from the "MiningImpact" project. DEME-GSR is further responsible to set up a monitoring programme for its industrial component trial as required by the International Seabed Authority.

Funding for the project was provided under the framework of the Joint Programming Initiative Healthy Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans) by:

• Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and Flanders EWI Department, Belgium
• The Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Germany
• Research Council of Norway (RCN), Norway
• The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), The Netherlands
• Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and Direção-Geral de Política do Mar (DGPM), Portugal

Links:

https://miningimpact.geomar.de
MiningImpact project website

https://miningimpact.geomar.de/events
Stakeholder information event for the cruise

http://jpi-oceans.eu/ecological-aspects-deep-sea-mining
JPI Oceans website

https://isa.org.jm
International Seabed Authority (ISA)

https://www.deme-gsr.com
Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR)

Project Partner

https://www.awi.de
Alfred-Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

https://www.senckenberg.de/de/institute/sam/dzmb
Deutsches Zentrum für Marine Biodiversitätsforschung, Senckenberg am Meer

https://www.geomar.de
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

https://www.jacobs-university.de
Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH

https://www.marum.de
MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen

https://www.mpi-bremen.de/
Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology

https://www.nioz.nl
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research

https://www.uu.nl
Utrecht University

https://www.ifremer.fr
Ifremer

https://www.ugent.be
Ghent University

http://www.cesam.ua.pt
Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro

https://imar.org.pt
Institute of Marine Research Okeanos, University of the Azores

https://www.ipma.pt
Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere

http://www.cima.ualg.pt
Centre for Marine and Environmental Research, University of Algarve

https://www2.ciimar.up.pt
Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research

https://biodatamining.cebitec.uni-bielefeld.de
Biodata Mining Group at University of Bielefeld

https://snf.no
Centre for Applied Research at NHH

https://www.allianz-meeresforschung.de
German Marine Research Alliance

Further Readings:

Boetius, A., Haeckel, M. (2018) Mind the seafloor. Science, 359(6371), doi: 10.1126/science.aap7301
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6371/34

Vanreusel, A., Hilario, A., Ribeiro, P.A., Menot, L., Martinez-Arbizu, P. (2016) Threatened by mining, polymetallic nodules are required to preserve abyssal epifauna. Scientific Reports, 6, doi:10.1038/srep26808,
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep26808

Biogeosciences Special Issue: Assessing environmental impacts of deep-sea mining - revisiting decade-old benthic disturbances in Pacific nodule areas
https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/special_issue942.html

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