Project MIDAS

The Managing Impacts of Deep-sea resource exploitation Project , popularly knows as MIDAS Project was a multidisciplinary research programme aimed to investigate the environmental impacts of extracting mineral and energy resources from the deep-sea environment. This included the exploitation of materials such as polymetallic sulphides, manganese nodules, cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, methane hydrates and the potential mining of rare earth elements.

It was funded under the European Commission’s Framework 7 initiative from November 2013 for a period of 3 years, and has recently completed its programme of research.

The main objectives of MIDAS were:

• Identification of the scale of possible impacts, and their duration, on deep-sea ecosystems associated with different types of resource extraction activities;
• Development of workable solutions and best practice codes for environmentally responsible and socially acceptable commercial activities;
• Development of robust and cost-effective techniques for monitoring the impacts of mineral exploitation and the subsequent recovery of ecosystems;
• Work with policy makers to enshrine best practice in international and national regulations and overarching legal frameworks.

Major activities of MIDAS Project were:

The Project carried out research on the nature and scales of the potential impacts of mining, including –

• the physical destruction of the seabed by mining, creation of mine tailings and the potential for catastrophic slope failures from methane hydrate exploitation;
• the potential effects of particle-laden plumes in the water column, and
• the possible toxic chemicals that might be released by the mining process and their effect on deep-sea ecosystems.

It also extended its research on biological unknown issues such as the connectivity between populations, impacts of the loss of biological diversity on ecosystem functioning, and how quickly the ecosystems can recover etc.

Research Area of the Project

The MIDAS study areas included- The mid-Atlantic Ridge (SMS), the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the central Pacific (nodules), the Black Sea, and the Norwegian and Svalbard continental margins (gas hydrates). Additionally, the Canary Islands, Palinuro Seamount (central Mediterranean), Norwegian fjords and Portmán Bay in Spain were used as proxy sites for various mining impact experiments.

Key findings of MIDAS

• It addressed the scale of the potential impacts from deep-sea mining – for example, the size of the areas to be mined, and how these would affect ecosystems, for example by impeding connectivity between populations, interrupting the life cycles of species, loss of habitat etc.
• It indicated that the loss of specific habitats within some areas especially nodule fields and inactive hydrothermal vents will persist in the long term owing to the very slow rate of nodule growth.
• The project overall concluded that it will take a long time for most of the seabed areas which has experience direct mining impacts to recover to a state similar to the baseline environment in terms of the abundance, diversity and composition of the community etc.

It is believed that three years of scientific study by MIDAS have created a wealth of new knowledge and understanding which will help to frame socially responsible seabed mining regulations in near future.