POLYMETALLIC NODULE MINING TECHNOLOGY: CURRENT STATUS AND CHALLENGES AHEAD Proceedings of the Workshop jointly organized by The International Seabed Authority and the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, India 18 to 22 February 2008 International Seabed Authority Kingston, Jamaica The designation employed and the presentation of materials in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the International Seabed Authority concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or maritime boundaries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Application for such permission, with a statement of purpose and the extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the International Seabed Authority, 14‐20 Port Royal Street, Kingston, Jamaica NATIONAL LIBRARY OF JAMAICA CATALOGUING –IN –PUBLICATION DATA Polymetallic nodule mining technology – current trends and challenges ahead : proceedings of the Workshop jointly organized by the International Seabead Authority and the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, India 18‐22 February 2008. p. ; cm ISBN 978‐976‐8241‐08‐5 (pbk) 1. Ocean mining 2. Ocean engineering 622.295 ‐ dc 23 Copyright © International Seabed Authority 2012 International Seabed Authority 14‐20 Port Royal Street Kingston, Jamaica Tel: +1 876 ‐922 9105 Fax: +1 876 ‐ 922 0195 URL:www.isa.org.jm ii Contents Opening Statements 4 List of Participants 12 Executive Summary 16 Presentations Part I: The economic, technical and legal framework for the development of polymetallic nodule resources in the Area 53 Chapter 1: Updated Analysis of the Capital and Operating Costs of a 54 Polymetallic Nodule Deep Ocean Mining System Developed in the 1970s Authors: Frank H. Brockett, President, Sound Ocean Systems, Inc. Redmond, WA, USA ; Jack P. Huizingh, Naval Architect / Marine Consultant, Kaneohe, HI, USA; James A.R. McFarlane, Vice President, Sound Ocean Systems, Inc. Redmond WA, USA Chapter 2: Model Mining Units of the Twentieth Century and the Economies 81 (Production Requirements, Area Requirements and Vertical Integration) T. Yamazaki, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan Chapter 3: Seabed Mining Economics: Lessons to be learned from old and 104 dusty models Dr. Caitlyn Antrim, Executive Director, Rule of Law Committee for Oceans Chapter 4: Economic and Technical Considerations Underpinning the Pioneer 118 Regime and the Regulation on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Nodules in the Area Baïdy Diène, Special Adviser, Ministry of Mining & Energy, BP.11841‐Peytrin, Dakar, Senegal Part II: The current status of technology development by contractors for polymetallic nodule exploration with the Authority 129 Chapter 5: The Status of India’s Mining Programme 130 Dr. M.A. Atmanand and Dr. S. Kathiroli, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, India Chapter 6: Sea Nodule Processing Status Review for Commercialization 143 P.K. Sen, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India; S. K Das, Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi, India 1 Chapter 7: An Overview of the Interoceanmetal Deep‐sea Technology 168 Development (Mining and Processing) Programme R. Kotlinski, Interoceanmetal Joint Organization, Szczecin, Poland and Institute of Marine Science, University of Szczecin, Poland; V. Stoyanova, Interoceanmetal Joint Organization, Szczecin, Poland; H. Hamrak, Interoceanmetal Joint Organization, Szczecin, Poland; A. Avramov, University of Chemical Engineering and Metallurgy, Sofia, Bulgaria Chapter 8: KORDI: A Way to Accomplish the Mining Technology for 185 Polymetallic Nodules Sup Hong, Dr. Sup Hong, Principal Researcher, Maritime & Ocean Engineering Research Institute Chapter 9: Status of Exploration for Polymetallic Nodules in the German 202 Licence Area Carsten Rühlemann and Michael Wiedicke, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hannover, Germany Chapter 10: COMRA: Research and Development of Polymetallic Nodule 214 Mining Technology in China Professor Yang Ning, Professor, Changsha Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, Changsha, Hunan 410012, China Chapter 11: The Concept of Engineering and Technological Support for 227 Mining and Processing of Polymetallic Nodules from the Russian Exploration Area V. Yubko, A. Kostyuk, I. Ponomareva, State Scientific Center Yuzhmorgeologia, Russian Federation Part III: Possible application of technology developed for other marine 244 resources to deep seabed mining Chapter 12: From Space Robotics to Underwater Mining 245 Piotr Jasiobedzki and Roy Jakola, MDA Space Missions Chapter 13: Status of Lift Systems for Polymetallic Nodule Mining 255 John Halkyard, John Halkyard & Associates, Houston, Texas 77079 USA, Chapter 14: The Direct Nickel Process for Treating Seafloor Ferromanganese 279 Deposits Julian Malnic, CEO, Direct Nickel Pty Ltd 2 Chapter 15: Nautilus Minerals Inc.: Technology Development for Polymetallic 289 Sulphides Mining Mr. Michael Johnston, Vice President, Nautilus Minerals, P.O. Box 1213, Milton Qld 4064, Australia. Chapter 16: Applicability of Flexible Pipe Riser Technology to Ultra Deepwater 301 Mining: Case Study Tricia Hill, Yanqiu Zhang, Thomas Kolanski / Wellstream International Limited Annex I – Background Document 318 3 Opening Statements Welcoming Remarks and Workshop Objectives Ambassador Satya N. Nandan, Secretary‐General, International Seabed Authority I am pleased to be here this morning and to see you attending this important workshop. Exploration, mining and processing technologies for developing polymetallic nodules resources in the Area have long been recognized as key components in their commercialization. We have assembled here in this beautiful city of Chennai for a workshop to take stock of the present status of the mining technology and the challenges that lie ahead. Last year when I visited NIOT and later had discussions in Delhi with Dr. P. S. Goesl, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences and Dr. S. K. Das, advisor to the ministry and former member of the LTC and an active contributor to the work of the Authority, the idea of a workshop on technology development was raised. Since then we agreed to hold this meeting. I thank the government of India for inviting the International Seabed Authority to hold this workshop in India, and particular in Chennai, and for agreeing to host the event at NIOT. It is the untiring efforts of the Ministry of Earth Science and the group at the NIOT which have resulted in this workshop becoming a reality. I would like to thank the Minister of Earth Science, Dr. Kapil Sibal; the Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. P. S. Goesl; Dr. S. K. Das and their colleagues in Delhi and here at the NIOT. I would like to thank Dr. Kathiroli, whom you just heard, he is the Director of the National Institute Of Ocean Technology; also Dr. M. A. Atmanand, he is in charge of technology development of seabed mining and their colleagues at NIOT. All of them have contributed to making this workshop possible. Ladies and gentlemen this is not the first time we have met to discuss the state of seabed mining technology. In January 1994 the preparatory commission for the ISA and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea convened a meeting of a group of technical experts to review the state of deep seabed mining and to make an assessment of the time when commercial production might be expected to commence. In discharging its mandate the group of technical experts took into account information notes submitted by five of the registered pioneer investors at that time: India; IFREMER of France; Yuzhmorgeologia (of the Soviet Union at the time), now Russia; DORD of Japan; IOM ‐ Inter Ocean Metal ‐ based in Poland. We took into account the annual periodic reports submitted by the six pioneer investors at the time and the publicly‐available information. The Committee was of the view that the developments in the field of visual and actual sampling for nodules have been adequate to assess the resources. However, the technology needs to be adequately upgraded to get to the commercialization stage. The experts also concluded that in the field of deep seabed mining two of the basic design concepts have been abandoned or shelved; the continuous line bucket dredge and the shuttle system. The two systems that were being envisaged and developed in parts, included the collection 4 of polymetallic nodules by either a towed system or self‐propelled collector system and the lifting of nodules through a 5 km long vertical riser pipe utilizing using centrifugal pump or airlift. The collector system, to be operational in a high pressure and low temperature environment, while operating on soil of poor strength demanded special equipment components and material which needed to be tested in the actual deep seabed environment. However, it was noted that an integrated mining system, even on a pilot scale of long duration, has not yet been demonstrated. The expert committee also took stock of the nodule processing technology and concluded that though the progress in hydro and biometallurgy