Summary of the Japanese Environmental Study for Deep-sea Mining

摘要

The Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ) conducted the eight year project "Environmental Impact Research for Manganese Nodule Mining" from 1989 to 1997 with an aim to evaluate the potential effects of the mining of manganese nodule and the preservation of the marine environment. Its purpose was to develop methods to evaluate environmental impacts expected to arise from commercial mining operations. Then MMAJ has initiated the next five year project "Environmental Impact Research on Marine Ecosystem for Deep-sea Mining" in 1998 to progress the results of the previous project by considering the impacts on marine ecosystem. This paper briefly reports about these researches.