Mongabay Series: Oceans
TOKYO – Japan is actively exploring tactics to exploit the deep sea of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in a bid to reduce its dependence on imported mineral resources needed for complex and eco-friendly technologies.
With the goal of being in a position to exploit its mineral resources until the end of the 2020s, Japan (one of the few countries actively pursuing seabed mining in its own waters) could be among the first countries to exploit the seabed. several small-scale mining trials that it claims are world firsts, and it is positioning itself as a world leader in the “sustainable development” of deep-sea mining.
Critics warn that mining can damage deep-sea ecosystems, directly destroying habitats and releasing plumes of fine debris that currents carry to suffocate near habitats. More than 20 countries have called for a ban, moratorium or precautionary pause on marine mining activities, and more than 800 marine scientists and other experts have signed a call for a pause. Aware of those concerns, the Japanese government is gathering knowledge about deep-sea ecosystems and developing technologies to monitor and minimize the environmental effects of mining. . So far, their small-scale controls have demonstrated persistent effects on wildlife in and near the control sites.
“We will only exploit mining if we can identify a physically powerful formula that takes into account environmental impacts,” said Yoshihito Doi, a member of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, which is part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). ). At the same time, he said, “We think it’s vital from an economic security standpoint to have a formula that allows us to access [deep-sea minerals]. “
The island nation is exploring three deep-sea mineral deposits in its EEZ: polymetallic sulphides in dormant hydrothermal vents, cobalt-rich crusts on seamounts and, rarely, terrestrial mud on the seafloor. It also has contracts with the Intercountry Seabed Authority (ISA). , a UN-affiliated body based in Jamaica, to search for polymetallic nodules and cobalt-rich crusts in foreign waters.
It is the government, rather than private companies, that runs Japan’s mining projects. The key players are the Cabinet Office, METI, the Japan Metals and Energy Safety Organization (JOGMEC), and the Japan Agency for Marine and Land Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). .
The government began seriously considering deep-sea mining in Japanese waters more than 15 years ago, with a 2007 Ocean Policy Law promoting the advancement of seafloor mineral resources. The Cabinet Office has been sponsoring a mining project since 2014 as part of its Strategic Innovation Promotion. (SIP) and its fourth Fundamental Ocean Policy Plan for 2023 laments Japan’s “dependence on certain countries” for the processing of rare earths and rare metals (China dominates, with about 70% of the world’s rare earth production) and highlights the importance for Japan to commercialize its Deep water resources.
In January and late summer 2017, JOGMEC conducted the world’s first test excavations of polymetallic sulphides containing zinc, lead, copper, gold, and silver from a dormant hydrothermal vent at approximately 1,600 meters (5,249 feet) deep in the Okinawa Trench in southwestern Japan. main islands.
JOGMEC, which declined Mongabay’s request to interview an official or spokesperson, has been exploring hydrothermal vents in Japan’s EEZ since 2008, adding the Izu and Ogasawara island chains.
Active hydrothermal vents are oases of life in the deep sea, teeming with organisms that are specially adapted to chemical-rich waters. While dormant vents don’t contain as much biomass, experts believe that mining can only harm active and dormant vent ecosystems. .
The January 2017 JOGMEC excavation, dubbed a “disturbance test,” removed about 20 cubic meters (706 cubic feet) of minerals and sediment in six hours. A study of environmental data conducted in 2023 collected up to 55 m (180 ft) of the trial site noted “potential impacts” on nematode and macrofauna communities even 3 years after the trial, although the effects were “unfortunately limited due to the low number of sites and sampling times. “
Large-scale mining of sulphide deposits would likely have greater environmental effects than small-scale testing, according to a 2023 JOGMEC report. This would involve digging up to 30 m (98 ft) into the seabed. And it most likely targeted a certain location for months or years, Travis Washburn, a benthic ecologist who helped analyze JOGMEC’s knowledge when he worked for the Geological Survey of Japan, told Mongabay.
According to him, larger-scale testing is needed to improve the environmental impact of advertising mining. “You can’t really understand what’s going to happen until you do,” he said.
Inactive vents are located near active vents; The 2017 disturbance test, for example, took place about two hundred m (656 ft) from an active vent. While many unknowns remain about how far the plumes traveled during the announcement extraction, “depending on proximity, it is most likely that active vents will be affected by plumes of smoke coming from nearby mines to dormant sulphides,” Washburn wrote in a subsequent email.
Analysis of disturbance evidence also indicates that the accumulation of poisonous steel waste that is potentially deadly to exposed organisms is among the greatest hazards related to sulphide mining, and other studies show that this is the riskiest extraction approach in this regard. The 2023 JOGMEC report states that poisonous waste would have an “impact” on marine ecosystems and that it is “difficult” to remove it from mining waste with equipment.
The JOGMEC report also states that in the future, the organization will “consider how it is more productive to monitor the environmental effects of commercial-scale mining. “It also aims to “define the scope of conservation [areas] to protect biodiversity” from mining, a move through the Convention on Biological Diversity and the deep-sea clinical community.
To help formulate such conservation strategies, Japanese researchers have been studying ventilation ecosystems in the country’s EEZ for more than a decade. A 2014 JAMSTEC survey found ventilation sites with exclusive local populations that “should be preserved” from mining and other human activities to avoid extinction. In 2016, researchers from JAMSTEC and others mapped larval dispersal between chimney fields in the western Pacific Ocean, and in 2018, JAMSTEC used this knowledge to design the ability of chimney communities to protect themselves from disturbances.
The Cabinet Office’s plan on ocean policy aims to “begin moving towards commercialization” of sulphide mining by the end of the 2020s.
JOGMEC conducted another mining test for the first time in the world in 2020, extracting 649 kilograms (1430 pounds) of cobalt and nickel-rich crust from a seamount near Minami-torishima, a 1. 5 km2 (0. 58 mi2) island about 2000 km away. (1240 km) away. mi) southeast of Tokyo.
Seamounts are biodiversity hotspots, offering exposed rocks for coral and sponge growth, as well as upwellings of nutrient-rich water that abounds in plankton and the resulting food chains.
A press release from JOGMEC said the environmental monitoring of the 2020 test was aimed at “ruling out any serious environmental impacts. “However, experts added that Washburn, who analyzed the data, found a reduction in the densities of cellular animals living on the seafloor and of swimmers compared to before the control in the domain affected by the excavation and its plume, which extended “a few hundred meters” from the mine site. A year after control, the number of these animals is still about halving.
“Even a very small-scale excavation on a seamount can adjust benthic communities,” the authors write.
Currently, Japan has a timeline for advertising exploitation of the cobalt-rich crust, Doi said.
It can be just as good. Although cobalt is currently being sought for battery production, Matthew Gianni, co-founder of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, a network of NGOs that opposes deep-sea mining, told Mongabay that battery generation is moving away from expensive metals like cobalt. and nickel. If Japanese mining were to rely on the existing battery market, “it could end up exploiting abandoned assets,” he said.
In 2011, researchers at the University of Tokyo reported the discovery of mud from the deep Pacific that contained high concentrations of rare terrestrial elements and yttrium, an aggregate known as REY. Other studies have shown the life of this dust in the Japanese EEZ, at an intensity of 6,000 m (19,685 ft) around the base of the seamounts near Minami-torishima.
By 2027, the Cabinet Office’s SIP task aims to demonstrate a generation that can pump 350 tonnes of occasional land sludge off the seafloor and process it every day. In 2022, JAMSTEC announced that it had indeed conducted a test of mining generation.
The press claims that the test also demonstrated the usefulness of a high-tech environmental monitoring formula developed as a component of the SIP project. Capable of gathering knowledge on the seafloor, between the waters and the surface, the formula can transmit data to the mining vessel. about possible disorders such as leaks. ” We can temporarily react and impede operations if this kind of primary threat occurs,” Hiroyuki Yamamoto, a benthic ecologist at JAMSTEC involved in the SIP project, told Mongabay.
Like any type of deep-sea mining, the infrequent extraction of mud from the ground will likely create a plume. Engineers on the SIP mission are working to minimize it by extracting it in an enclosed chamber, Yamamoto said. According to him, the infrequent extraction of soil sludge would have a lower environmental impact than that of mining sulphide deposits, as the sludge is easier to extract and contains only basic levels of toxic elements.
Many difficult situations remain before large-scale mining can begin in Japan’s EEZ, Doi said. In addition to overcoming technological hurdles and defining the scope of environmental monitoring, “we want to examine in more detail whether there are enough mineral resources to [mining] to be economically beneficial,” he said.
Japan plans to abide by foreign regulations set through the ISA even when conducting mining activities in its EEZ, according to Doi. Currently, the ISA has rules for deep-sea mineral exploration; Regulations for ad mining are still in draft and under discussion.
Acknowledging that environmental effects “will be zero,” Doi highlighted Japan’s plans to minimize them, adding monitoring columns from mining tests and investigating deep-sea animal population networks.
Such studies are a signal, Shigeru Tanaka, deputy director general of the Pacific Asia Resource Center, a nonprofit that advocates for a moratorium or ban on deep-sea mining, told Mongabay. “Of course, they do these studies for mineral development, but at least they have an idea of what’s bad and what’s worse,” he said.
However, Tanaka cautioned that since various government organizations in the Cabinet Office push mining, the procedure lacks a breakout mechanism. When it comes to deep-sea mining, regulation now means for mining, and the Japanese government would possibly see environmental studies and assessments. He fears that hedging is a prerequisite for starting mining, rather than a possible explanation for why it would be prevented.
Banner image: Deep-sea mining apparatus aboard the D/V Chikyu. Image courtesy of JAMSTEC.
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Dating:
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