With an estimated 70% of the world’s mineral deposits located under the ocean, subsea technology developed in the oil and gas sector could help open up the potential of submerged mining.
UK subsea engineering company SMD is one firm that has committed to the sector with the launch of the world’s first deep sea mining vehicles for testing in the Middle East.
The Tyneside firm was awarded a contract to design and build the massive underwater mining vehicles for Canadian listed company Nautilus Minerals in 2007. Eight years on, the machines are complete.
As well as the three mining machines or Seafloor Production Tools (SPTs), SMD designed and manufactured the full spread equipment required to remotely operate, launch and recover the SPTs from the deck of the ship onto which they will be installed in 2017.
SMD conducted rigorous commissioning and factory acceptance testing on the full spread of equipment in dry conditions on land at their production facility in Wallsend, North East England prior to shipping.
The SPTs will now undergo extensive wet testing at the port facility in Oman which is designed to provide a submerged demonstration of the fully assembled SPTs, prior to commencement of the first mining operations in 2018.
Subsea ore grades are much higher as the vast resources are untapped and have not necessarily been subjected to weathering or erosion. At shallow depths and in calm water environments, the subsea mining industry has already emerged.
Tin, ilmenite and magnetite mining has been mined for many years. Recent developments have added alluvial diamonds and gold to the list albeit on a relatively small scale.
Improvements in riser technology from the oil & gas industry and advances in cutting technology from the mining industry have now paved the way for the targeting of deeper reserves.
SMD chief executive Andrew Hodgson commented: “Our engineers have taken proven technology which we have developed over 40 years, and adapted it for a new application to suit Nautilus’ needs, and we’re very proud of that.
Nautilus chief executive Mike Johnston said the machines would be used on the firm’s Solwara 1 project, located at 1,600 depth in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea. The project aims to mine high-grade copper and gold deposits.
Recommended for you
