MiningImpact 

Environmental impacts and risks of deep-sea mining

2018 - 2022

In the second project phase of MiningImpact, we will extend our previous work towards three major research interests 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. In this context, key objectives of the project are:

• To develop and test monitoring concepts and strategies for deep-sea mining operations

• To develop standardization procedures for monitoring and definitions for indicators of a

  good environmental status

• To investigate potential mitigation measures, such as spatial management plans of

  mining operations and means to facilitate ecosystem recovery

• To develop sound methodologies to assess the environmental risks and estimate

  benefits, costs and risks

• To explore how uncertainties in the knowledge of impacts can be implemented into

  appropriate regulatory framework 

While the first project phase could investigate only experimental and/or rather small-scale disturbances of the seafloor, in the second phase a comprehensive monitoring program will be devoted to the industrial test of the prototype nodule collector system of the Belgian contractor DEME-GSR. The test intends to harvest nodules in approx. 300x300m² large areas of the seabed in the Belgian and the German contract areas of the CCZ. Thus, MiningImpact 2 will collect independent scientific information on the environmental impacts of this operation. Here, the primary focus is on constraining and quantifying the temporal dynamics and characteristics of the suspended sediment plume, the spatial footprint of the deposited sediment blanket, and the induced effects on the abyssal ecosystem. Thus, MiningImpact 2 will be able to further close existing knowledge gaps and reduce uncertainties on the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining of polymetallic nodules.