Archives: Undersea mining

DeepGreen Metals Inc has formalised partnerships with leading scientific research institutions and internationally-renowned universities in a significant investment into its ongoing deep-sea discovery program to characterise the potential impacts of lifting polymetallic nodules up from the bottom of the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the Pacific Ocean. The battery metals start-up is investing over $60[…]

De Beers recently turned to ALE to replace two engines on its Debmar Pacific mining vessel, in use at its offshore diamond operations in Namibia. Since 2002, diamond mining operations in Namibia have taken place in larger volume offshore than onshore, as gemstones washed into the Atlantic Ocean over millions of years are dredged and[…]

Debmarine Namibia, a 50/50 joint venture between the Government of the Republic of Namibia and De Beers Group, has announced that its Board of Directors have approved the construction of the world’s first ever custom-built diamond recovery vessel. The new vessel is expected to cost $468 million and represents the largest ever single investment in[…]

The transition to a low-carbon economy, access to resources and new ways to finance mining are just some of the drivers the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Nicolas Maennling and Perrine Toledano believe will shape the future of the mining and metals sector. Maennling and Toledano, co-curators of the WEF’s Transformation Map on Mining and Metals,[…]

On the 24 October the ¡VAMOS! partners together with Advisory Board members and interested external parties – such as geologists and researchers from companies and institutions, local people etc – were present at the ¡VAMOS! technology Demonstration Day, at the Magcobar flooded mine pit, in Silvermines, Ireland. In total 85 visitors participated in the field[…]

GSR recently published the complete “prior” Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) related to the exploration mission of its ‘Patania II’ pre-prototype seafloor nodules mining vehicle in 2019. After its predecessor ‘Patania I’ was successfully tested at 4,500 m water depth in the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone in 2017, GSR was able to engineer ‘Patania II’, integrating[…]

For the first time, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and LCW Supercritical Technologies have created 5 g of uranium yellowcake —using acrylic fibers to extract it from seawater. “This is a significant milestone,” said Gary Gill, a researcher at PNNL, a US Department of Energy national laboratory, and the only one with a marine[…]

DeepGreen Metal’s research vessel, the Maersk Launcher, has returned to port in San Diego after nearly two months at sea. This is the third of seven campaigns to pursue the evaluation of deep ocean metals, which, the company says, “will be indispensable for powering a low-carbon and high-tech economy — battery storage systems, electric vehicles,[…]

The first of five ocean campaigns, co-sponsored with Maersk, bodes well for environmentally sustainable and economic recovery of metals. DeepGreen’s research vessel, the Maersk Launcher, will return to port in San Diego on June 4 with positive findings after nearly two months at sea. This is the first of five expeditions to pursue the development[…]

Exciting news ahead for the UNEXMIN project: the first UX-1 robot prototype has been shipped to Finland – in time for the preparations of the first UNEXMIN pilot trial in Kaatiala, Finland. After the extensive preparations in the last months, the first UX-1 prototype – UX-1a – has been sent to Finland, where the UNEXMIN[…]