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By David M. Holmes-Smith

Many attempts have been made to design and build an AUV that is small, meets the sensing objectives and is cost effective. Many inventors have already designed smaller vehicles but the problem observed is an increased vehicle instability resulting in instrument instability where data gathered is not trustworthy. Additional problems include instrument weight to vehicle weight ratios and the lack of space for power storage and electrical components. The UFOceanic seeks to remedy these concerns by employing a completely different design and propulsion system. Still in the design stage ? now with a mock-up unit for testing, the results are encouraging. We have chosen a very low voltage embedded systems design using multiple PIC processors and fuzzy logic programming. We are designing the craft to rotate for stability and to provide friction reduction to minimize the need for instrument stability compensation and propulsion power. Additionally, we are looking and experimenting with a number of power plant drive systems including flywheels, GNP (plasma), fuel cells and more conventional systems. We of course plan for the UFOceanic to run for months at a time supported by a self-charging system.

Jan 1, 2001

By Lisa Koch, Eleanor Martin

"Each underwater mining project is different. However, most have one thing in common: To be successful. We will draw on our experience advising hundreds of international clients each year on mining, offshore oil & gas and shipping matters to highlight some legal, commercial and practical issues to consider when structuring underwater mining projects. We will look at new ways of allocating risks and rewards in order to obtain much needed investment for underwater mining projects to commence both the exploration and exploitation phase.HighlightsRisk profileWe will look at a typical underwater mining project from the viewpoint of an investor and highlight some of the perceived risks, and potential mitigants.Contractual structureWe will analyse how the mining industry and oil & gas service industry have responded to low commodity prices to examine innovate contractual arrangements with suppliers and stakeholders, and how they can be tailored to the underwater mining industry. FinancingWe will explore some potential financing structures which could be relevant to the underwater mining industry."

Jan 1, 2017

By Jan Willem van Bloois

IHC Merwede is world market leader in the construction of specialist dredging equipment; it is a company with a rich history. The Netherlands is a coastal western country for which water management is a very important issue. Without the enclosure of the coastal areas with dikes and dunes almost two third of the Netherlands would be flooded. These activities are mostly performed by the dredging industry and are the foundation of the dredging industry as it is today. Besides land protection this industry also carries out infrastructure maintenance and performs land reclamation projects. In essence the dredging industry is specialized in horizontal excavation activities and operations in shallow waters with the purpose of gathering bottom sediments and disposing it at a different location. The development is that the activities are moving to deeper waters to a depth of up to 150m. A few years ago IHC Merwede received a request to perform the shallow water excavation techniques at a depth of approximately 2000 meters for the deep sea mining market. In response to the increasing number of requests for deep sea dredging and mining application solutions, IHC Merwede combined all of its activities in this sector to create a new, specially equipped operational unit, IHC Deep Sea Dredging & Mining (IHC DSDM).

Jan 1, 2010

By Karsten Hagenah, Tor Jensen, Jens Laugesen, Øyvind Fjukmoen, Lucy Brooks

This paper discusses operational environmental threshold levels for exploitation of mineral resources in the deep sea. Such criteria are needed to be able to monitor and control deep sea mining with respect to the stringent environmental requirements that are needed. It is recommended to use existing environmental threshold levels for comparable underwater activities. Fields of application are mainly but not exclusively seabed mining operation activities under the governance of the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The threshold levels and limits mentioned in this paper are proposed recommendations based on other activities than seabed mining but are a proven and accepted approach in other maritime industry activities. An example of such other activities with proven and accepted environmental threshold levels are Oil & Gas exploitation activities in the sea. Background The first exploitation of mineral resources in international waters is coming closer. Presently regulations for exploitation for mineral resources in the Area are being developed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The ISA regulations will contain the framework related to environmental monitoring of exploitation. However, the regulations will not contain operational environmental threshold levels for the Contractor.

Jan 1, 2018

By C. Wildman

Prospectivity modeling of seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits has been completed over the Kermadec Arc-Colville Ridge area using the GIS based weights of evidence and fuzzy logic modeling techniques. SMS deposits are the current equivalent of ancient onshore volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) ore deposits. These high-grade deposits are formed on the seafloor and commonly consist of a black smoker and metal rich sediment mound complex resulting from the discharge of hydrothermal fluids (up to 400°C) from fractures on the seafloor. Metal sulphides are continuously precipitated in response to mixing of high-temperature hydrothermal fluids with ambient seawater. Accumulation of metal sulphides has led to SMS deposits being potentially major sources of copper, zinc, lead and other metals such as gold, silver, which to date remain untapped. Modeling of SMS deposits was undertaken to illustrate the power of GIS modeling for seafloor resource evaluation and how it can be used to quickly identify and rank in terms of the most likely prospective areas of the seafloor where new SMS deposits might exist. The mineral deposit modeling was constrained by the mineral systems concept which defines those parts of a mineralisation system that are critical to the ore-forming process. The deposits are typically formed in extensional tectonic settings, including both submerged tectonic margins and sea-floor spreading. Volcanic vent systems and underlying dykes, stocks and sills are the sources of heat that are responsible for converting sea water drawn down through fractures in the oceanic crust into an ore-forming hydrothermal fluid. This fluid is then capable of leaching metals and elements from surrounding footwall rocks, which are then transported upwards via the convection of hydrothermal fluids. The ore materials are then precipitated within the black smoker field as massive sulphides due to the mixing of high-temperature (250-400°C), metal-rich hydrothermal fluids with cold (about 2°C) oxygen bearing seawater.

Jan 1, 2011

By Timothy F. McConachy

Magmatic-hydrothermal activity in the South-West Pacific and SE Asian island arcs during the Tertiary has created a premier copper-gold province with numerous, commercially attractive base and precious metal deposits. This activity continues to the present day, especially in submarine sectors of those arcs where modern technologies enable direct observation of ore-forming processes in action. Until recently, however, the volcanic island arcs of Indonesia escaped such attention. The Indonesia-Australia Survey for Submarine Hydrothermal Activity (IASSHA), involved three cruises with KR Baruna Jaya VIII, focused particularly on the Sangihe arc; Tomini Bay, Sulawesi, including the vicinity of isolated Colo volcano; and the Sunda Strait including the neighborhood of Krakatau volcano. IASSHA 2001 and 2003 cruises studied the arc and behind-arc sectors of the Sangihe volcanic island chain extending northwards from Quaternary volcanoes on the northeastern tip of Sulawesi, near Manado, to the Kawio Islands near the border with the Philippines (Fig. 1). This chain lies above a west-dipping Wadati-Benioff seismic zone whose subduction trench is obscured by accreted sediments and mélange, forming the Talaud-Mayu ridge. West of the main active chain and extending northwards from Manado there is a subparallel ridge (The Manado Line) surmounted by a number of high (>2000 m) seamounts of uncertain age.

Jan 1, 2005

By Derek V. Ellis

A stepwise implementation of seven criteria for screening the physical, chemical and environmental suitability of submarine tailing disposal (STD) at coastal mines is presented. It is expected that similar criteria would be relevant to future deepwater mining. A reconnaissance level study of four preliminary criteria: mine location; coastal bathymetry; feasible outfall locations; and potential for chemical contamination can support or eliminate the prospects for STD. If supportive, detailed, and far more time-consuming hence costly surveys of: environmental background information including oceanography and waste discharge characteristics; projected impacts on other resource uses plus regulatory and community concerns will be essential for environmental protection and to secure the necessary approvals. This review of STD systems on which the proposed screening criteria were based was undertaken by a Cooperative Agreement of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, Alaska Field Operations Center with the University of British Columbia.

Jan 1, 1994

By Steve Potter

"REVIEW OF ISA's DRAFT EXPLOITATION REGULATIONS – HAVE KEY STAKEHOLDERS' CONCERNS BEEN ADDRESSED ADEQUATELY?In early August 2017, the ISA published a revised draft of the exploitation regulations. My presentation will focus on the extent to which key State and Contractor issues raised in formal submissions in November 2016 have been addressed in the revised draft and any additional key issues in the revised draft which are likely to cause significant concern for Contractors.ABSTRACTFollowing the ISA's call for submissions in response to draft zero of the exploitation regulations in July 2016, 43 responses from stakeholders were received by the ISA in November 2016. My presentation will start by briefly looking at how the ISA has continued to engage with stakeholders following the publication of draft zero of the exploitation regulations, including at payment regime workshops in London (November 2016) and Singapore (April 2017) and at the environmental workshop held in Berlin in March 2017. It will also touch on the publication in February 2017 of what was in effect a very preliminary draft of the environmental regulations before moving on to consider in detail the extent to which key State and Contractor issues have been addressed in the ISA revised draft exploitation regulations which were published in August 2017. My review of the formal submissions will include, amongst other things, commentary on:(i) the level of Stakeholder response (State Parties to UNCLOS, Sponsoring States, Privately owned Contractors, State Owned Contractors and NGOs);(ii) the quality of the submissions (particularly by States and Contractors); (iii) the key concerns raised by State and Contractor stakeholders and how those issues have been addressed in the revised draft exploitation regulations; and(iv) how all stakeholders need to further engage with the ISA to ensure that the exploitation code adequately addresses the legitimate and reasonable concerns of each Stakeholder group (e.g. Contractors, Sponsoring States, Developing States and NGOs)."

Jan 1, 2017

By P. A. Rona

The first hydrothermal mineral deposits found at a seafloor spreading center were discovered in the Red Sea by multi-national research vessels between 1963 and 1965. At that time, the deposits were considered a special case related to continental rifting and an early stage of opening of an ocean basin. Since that time, examples of almost all major varieties of volcanic- and sediment-hosted hydrothermal deposits associated with basaltic rocks in the geologic record have been found at present spreading centers. Review of over 100 hydrothermal mineral occurrences presently known at oceanic ridges and rifts indicates that a range of deposit sizes from small to large (> 1 x 106 tonnes) occurs at all seafloor spreading rates. However, larger deposits but fewer per unit length of spreading axis appear to form at slow- than at intermediate- to fast-spreading centers based on available data. Larger deposits are more common in sediment-hosted than in volcanic-hosted settings regardless of spreading rate. A spectrum of hydrothermal deposit varieties (stratiform, stockwork and disseminated sulfides; various forms of sulfate, carbonate, silicate, oxide and hydroxide deposits) occurs in almost all of the tectonic settings. High-intensity, ore-forming, subseafloor, hydrothermal convection systems that conserve heat and mass and concentrate hydrothermal precipitates are extremely localized by anomalous physical and chemical conditions relative to nearly ubiquitous low-intensity hydrothermal activity at and flanking seafloor spreading axes at all spreading rates. Two distinct shapes of volcanic-hosted

Jan 1, 1989

By Wiebe Boomsma

INTRODUCTION Starting in February 2014, 19 partners from EU industry, research institutions and academia joined forces and formed the Blue Mining consortium. In the following four years, they have set out to work on the development of deep sea mining technology, looking into exploration, identification, economic assessment and vertical transport systems for the mining of seafloor massive sulphides and polymetallic nodules. In the beginning 2018 this research & development project has come to an end. The Blue Mining project was one of the first EU subsidised projects embracing the TRL system. This system describes a method of de-risking technology using a simple 9-step approach. This method requires experimental testing in laboratory and relevant environments to be able to reach the higher levels (TRL>5) This paper will discuss the progress in development of the vertical transport system, with a focus on the performed experimental work. This paper will discuss three topics: • Booster station technology • Riser dynamics • Vertical hydraulic transport process. BOOSTER STATION TECHNOLOGY Deep knowledge of transport processes is a prerequisite for a clog free vertical transport One of the key technologies in the VTS is the booster station. The centrifugal pump booster station concept is developed in Blue Mining, it consists of two centrifugal pumps and multiple valves, assembled in member-type frame. Deep sea conditions pose special requirements on all components due to the extreme pressures at large water depths. In the Blue Mining project a Deep Sea Special Motor has been developed and tested in laboratory and in the field. The motor is completely filled, lubricated and cooled using seawater due to its unique open structure, furthermore it does not require any lubricants minimizing the environmental pressure of the motor. The motor is first extensively tested in a laboratory, after these tests have been concluded successfully, the motor is shipped to Norway where it has been successfully tested for more than 100 hours at 425 meter water depth.

Jan 1, 2018

By Henk van Muijen

From an interesting and intriguing scientific research topic, deep sea mining has altered into an interesting mining prospect over the last years. Ten years ago most of the focus was on geological investigations, searching for typical deep sea deposits and getting answers on where we can find them and how these deposits were formed. At this moment we know much more about the interesting deposit possibilities and with our quest for minerals, metals and other materials to feed global economic growth, answers as to the technical and economic feasibility to mine these deposits are sought. This is not a new phenomenon as we already witnessed such question late 1970?s and early 1980?s. Most of the focus was on mining manganese nodules and brines in the Red Sea driven by the report of the Club of Rome that predicted shortages in near future at that time. Development went different, but later in the 1990?s a rival of interest could be noticed for mining deep sea deposits.

Jan 1, 2010

By Joshua Brien

DEEP SEABED MINING IN NATIONAL JURISDICTION: KEY CHALLENGES The talk focuses on the key challenges that arise from deep-seabed mineral exploration and development within areas of national jurisdiction, including legal and institutional challenge and options to address these challenges. Joshua Brien has acted for a range of Governments throughout the world, including smallisland States and the developing world. This has included engagement in matters before the International Court of Justice, the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in contentious and advisory proceedings, including provisional measures applications and prompt release cases.

Jan 1, 2018

By Art Wright, Steinar L. Ellefmo, Kurt Aasly, Mike Williamson, Fredrik Søreide, Martin Ludvigsen, Michael Zylstra

Exploring for minerals on the seabed is challenging and expensive – and the ability to collect representative sub surface samples is essential. The research project MarMine led by NTNU has together with Seattle based Williamson and Associates developed and tested an ROV-based drill rig for mineral (seafloor massive sulfides and crusts) and rock sampling. The ROCS system is a single stroke drill and is simple, robust and possible to use from various larger ROVs. For the vehicle to provide a stable platform, the vertical bollard pull of the ROV and the vehicle mass are important variables. The developed drill uses a thin wall drill bit and barrel and operates at high RPM to reduce the required down weight and drilling moments. The system also contains an emergency release to be used if the core barrel is stuck. The drill is hydraulically powered with cylinders operating the tower and a rotation unit. It can rapidly be modified to provide samples from softer samples like unconsolidated material. At the Arctic Mid Ocean Ridge, a work class ROV was deployed with the drill mounted for testing at 2700 m depth in basalt rock. The recovery from the system was above 80%. Such core samples can be used for chemical analyses of metal and mineral grades, mineralogy and rock mechanical testing. The system provides a probing tool for marine mineral exploration, with low cost, low operational complexity and low risk. Proper resource estimation requires drilling deeper into the deposit, but the short core samples provided by the ROCS provide valuable a priori information planning for more extensive drilling campaigns.

Jan 1, 2017

In 1983, the GEMINO research project (Geothermal Metallogenesis Indian Ocean) was initiated in order to locate and evaluate sites of recent or fossil hydrothermal activity in the largely unexplored Indian Ocean. During GEMINO cruises 1 and 2 with R/V SONNE in 1983 and 1986, the Central Indian Ridge between 21°S and 24°S was the subject of detailed exploration, including SeaBeam and magnetic mapping, hydrocasts, sediment coring, TV-grab sampling, and camera/video tows. Although hydrothermal sulfide mineralization was not located, a hydrothermal component in the sediment composition, hydrothermally altered basalts, and maximum concentrations of 27.5 nmol/kg Mn and 45.6 nl/l CH4 were discovered (Plüger and Herzig 1986; Herzig and Plüger 1988a). Leg 1 of the GEMINO-3 cruise in 1987/88 identified a neovolcanic ridge in the rift valley of a 30 km segment at 22°55'S as a site of weak hydrothermal activity and photographed smectite-like precipitates on basalt talus and a chimney structure on top of a ridge-parallel fault scarp. Water temperature data and the distribution of Mn and CH4 were interpreted as indicative of diffuse, low-temperature hydrothermal activity (Herzig and Plüger 1988b).

Jan 1, 1989

By Naoki Hiroyoshi, Kunihiro Hori, Kengo Sekimura, Mayumi Ito, Kouki Kashiwaya, Eiji Yamaguchi, Masami Tsunekawa

Cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts and nodules ores from seamount areas contain volcanic and sedimentary rocks as substrate or nuclei. During the mining operation, these rocks should be separated as unfavorable waste rocks with the manganese minerals. The ferromanganese crust and nodule ores require mineral processing to remove the substrate rock before the smelting. Deep-sea manganese nodule ores in contrast contain vanishingly small rocks, and can be directly treated with a smelting process without mineral processing treatment. This paper shows phisical and chemical description of the ores for the purpose of mineral processing, and reports liberation degree measurements of crushed ores and gravity separation tests. A mineral processing treatment flow is proposed from the obtained results. There is the first report of applying gravity separation in the treatment of coarse sized crushed products of cobalt-rich ferromanganese crust and nodules ore.

By Carsten Rühlemann

Between 2008 and 2013, the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) carried out five exploration cruises to the German license area in the eastern Pacific Nodule Belt. The first two expeditions were mainly dedicated to multibeam mapping to obtain an overview of the seafloor topography and acoustic backscatter strength. These data were used to identify ten to fourteen prospective nodule fields for potential future mining, which together cover about 16% of the total license area of 75,000 km2. During the last three cruises, three of these potential mining areas were explored in detail. For this purpose, the BGR developed a suite of exploration methods to map nodule size distributions and nodule abundances. These methods include acoustic surveys with vessel-based multibeam systems as well as near-bottom video mapping complemented by in situ sampling. The economically most valuable field has a size of ca. 2,000 km2, of which 34% is covered by medium to large nodules (> 4 cm long axis of nodules) with an average abundance of 22.4 kg/m2 and 44% is covered by small nodules (< 4 cm) with a mean abundance of 17.5 kg/m2. The total mass of nodules in this field comprises more than 30 million tons wet weight and could sustain deep-sea mining for at least 10 years.

Sep 14, 2011

By Nicholas Dyriw, Georgy Cherkashov, Tamara Stepanova, John Parianos, Anna Firstova

"Seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits are a new frontier in global metal resources. Hydrothermal chimney’s (black smokers) precipitate Cu, Zn, Ag and Au rich from hot fluids (>250°C) during interaction with cold seawater ~2-4°C. Here we compare the sulfide mineralogy and geochemistry of Cu-sulfide chimney samples from two different tectonic locations: Solwara 1, a Cu-rich, transitional arc-back arc (Arc-BA) type SMS ore deposit and; Ashadze-1, a Cu-rich, ocean ridge type SMS deposit (Hannington et al., 2011).This work represents the first stage of a project aimed at investigating and understanding the significance of high Cu concentrations in SMS systems. Comparing these particular systems is significant because they share critical similarities despite being located at different seafloor depths, hosted in different rocks and are located in two different endmember tectonic environments. Critical similarities include: 1) age of mineralization, ~6000 years to current (Firstova et al., 2016; Johns et al., 2014); and 2) high copper contents, with chalcopyrite dominating sulfide mineralization (Firstova et al., 2016; Lipton, 2012). The reason for high Cu concentrations in both of these locations is still not entirely understood. The youthfulness (<6000y to current) of both locations is important because it reduces the possibility of increased zone refining, allowing us to understand the source characteristics better. This research will advance our understanding of the copper systematics of SMS systems by investigating and comparing the mineralogical and geochemical signatures from two, Cu-rich, end-member type SMS sites."

Jan 1, 2017

By Isobel Yeo, Florent Szitkar, Sven Petersen, Sebastian Graber, Meike Klischies

Technological advances and the shift towards green energies in the last decades have led to a substantial increase in the demand for metal resources. With rising political tension, and quasi-monopolistic production of some key metals, a secured supply chain cannot be guaranteed [1]. Therefore, the focus of the international research community and mining companies has expanded to the seafloor, looking for additional resources. The seafloor may have the potential to contribute significantly to a secure metal supply in the future. However, we have only investigated a fraction of our oceans in sufficient detail to assess the global resource potential. A detailed exploration of the vast seafloor is currently economically not feasible, due to its extremely time-consuming and costly nature. Seafloor massive sulfides generally form along the active plate boundaries and at active volcanoes in arc settings. However, the resources are not evenly distributed on the seafloor. Large deposits tend to be more common along slow-spreading and ultra-slow- spreading ridges that make up the majority of the global mid-ocean ridge system [2]. Therefore, it is important to establish geological models and exploration criteria in order to narrow down the permissive areas, which are likely to accommodate economically interesting deposits. Based on a detailed study of the TAG hydrothermal field in the central Atlantic Ocean, hosting a large active mound as well as several inactive mounds, we develop exploration methods and criteria to define areas of potential massive sulfide occurrences along slow-spreading sections.

Jan 1, 2018

By David Huber, John Halkyard

Deep Reach Technology, Inc. recently completed a multi-year cooperative research project for the U S Army Research Laboratory for the purposes of investigating recovery of rare earth elements from the seabed. This research led to the discovery of a potentially economical deposit in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Cook Islands. In order to further develop this resource, Ocean Minerals LLC (OML) was formed in 2016 to explore the development of a deep-sea mining project to recover rare earth elements and scandium from the upper 10m of sediment in promising areas of the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone. OML and the Cook Islands Investment Corporation signed an Agreement in 2016 giving OML exclusive rights to explore a 12000 sq km area and option rights over an additional 48,000 sq km. This poster presents the current status and activities related to this project.

Jan 1, 2017

By Seung-Kyu Son, Michael T. Chandler, Youngtak Ko, Gyuha Hwang

Over the past decade, sea-floor hydrothermal vent fields have been studied by many researchers because of their commercial potential of mineral resources and the origins of Earth’s life. Approximately 300 of these are reported as massive sulfide deposits near the mid-ocean ridge, most of which are located in the Atlantic and Pacific ridges. However, only fourteen deposits have been identified in the Indian mid-ocean ridges. The Central Indian Ridge (CIR) between 8°S and 12°S is composed of three segments with a slow full- spreading rate of 33-37 mm/yr. The hydrothermal activity at the slow-spreading center can be generated along the ridge axis attended by volcanism or along the tectonic features, such as oceanic core complexes (OCCs). OCC is an exposed mantle rocks composed of peridotite and ultramafic rocks uplifted through long-lived detachment fault processes which can also lead to extensive hydrothermal circulation near the slow-spreading center. Therefore, the identification of OCC’s properties will be an important indicator for finding the sea-floor hydrothermal vents. To study hydrothermal activity of the CIR, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) have conducted expeditions using R/V Onnuri over four years (2009-2011, 2017). High-resolution bathymetry and backscatter data was obtained during expeditions using multibeam echo system of EM120 in 2009-2011 and deep-tow side-scan sonar system of IMI-30, which has more higher resolution than EM120, in 2017. In this study, we use these high-quality data for constraining location and size of OCC. We also analyze the geophysical and morphotectonic characteristics of OCC gathering high-resolution bathymetric map and backscatter image.

Jan 1, 2018