OCEAN MINING TECHNIQUES

Submitted to

The Professor and Head

University Of Madras
Guindy campus, Chennai-600 025
Tamil Nadu, India

By

K. SANDEEP VAMSI
(M.Phil SCHOLAR; Reg. No. 23715006)

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Department of Geology
University of Madras, Guindy Campus
Chennai-600 025

SEPTEMBER - 2015
Introduction
Minerals have become very useful in our daily life.
More consumption of these minerals is leading to high
demand.
In majority of the countries, lack of minerals or
depletion of minerals from the resources is leading to
high demand for particular minerals during peace and
also during the war time.
Lets take an example of India having high demand
for minerals; the last two wars have caused depletion
in resources in petroleum, tin, lead and zinc.
Lead, zinc and tin supply is put at only about 17-20
years from the known sources.
Some of the critical minerals are petroleum, petroleum
products, S, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, Hg, pt and minerals like
industrial diamond, graphite, cryolite, selenium.
Due to depletion of mineral resources, researchers and
scientists have found an alternative; they have
prospected minerals resources in oceans. Many
countries are exploring and exploiting minerals from
the oceans.
We are going discuss what are the minerals found in
oceans and what are the techniques used to mine
minerals.
TYPES OF MINERALS FOUND IN OCEANS

VMS volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits

(metal sulfide deposits)
Copper, zinc, lead, gold, silver
By-products include cobalt, sulfur,
manganese, barium, tin, cadmium, indium,
tellurium
Formed by volcanic openings in ocean floor
Superheated water + sulfur borne metals
wells out forming a cone (black smokers /
fumaroles)
Deposits the above metals
Very hot highly acidic local conditions while
active
Petroleum deposits.
 PROSPECTING

Acoustical devices

Optical systems

Navigation systems

Other devices and techniques

1) Acoustic techniques
a) Echo sounders operating at frequencies
between 3 and 35 kHz provide seabed and
subsurface profiles.
A 3.5 kHz profiler can penetrate the
upper 50m of sediments and log
irregularities such as subsurface
intrusions and surface extrusions of
basalt.
Bottom towed side scan sonars
provide information on obstacles and
nodule coverage. Echo sounders have
sixteen narrow beams each with an angle
of 1.66 degree giving detailed topographic
data.
The beams which are used for normal
survey they use the degree of about 30.
b) GLORIA, is another system towed 50m
below sea surface, maps the ocean floor in
swaths of 14, 30 or 60km.
2) Optical systems

To make reasonably accurate estimates of seabed

minerals, analysts must have detailed sample
information on their type, volume, density of
distribution, and the amount of sediments covering
them.
Various large, still cameras with wide angle lenses and
a capacity for hundreds of frame are used, as are small
flashlight cameras capable of only one shot. These
units, combined with boomerang sampling devices,
can take a photograph and then return automatically
to surface.

3) Other devices and techniques

Bathysonde, provide vertical profile
measurements of the water columns pressure,
temperature and salinity.

Geologists use various grabs, dredge buckets, and

corers. Seabed grab samples taken at intervals can
be analyzed by employing californium-252
radiation source. The process works by measuring
gamma radiation given off by seabed material
after activation by neutrons.
Ocean mining methods
Mining manganese nodules
Mining polymetallic nodules using continuous line
bucket system

Continuous line bucket system (CLB) consists of

an 8 km cable on which buckets were launched
from the bow of a former whaling ship.
In 1972 these CLB used to have only one ship to
collect the nodules, but only some nodules were
picked up, from the 1975 they used two ships to
cover large area.
 Hydraulic mining system

This system was conceptualized in 1988.

Its consisted of a semi-submersible surface
platform, a catamaran type; a 4800 m rigid steel
pipe string, and a flexible hose, 600m long and
with a 38 m centimeter internal diameter,
connecting the bottom of the pipe string to a
dredge on the seabed.
This hose would form an arc, allowing the dredge
to deviate from the route followed by the surface
platform so as to avoid obstacles.
The self propelled dredge would be 18 m long, 15
m wide and 5 m high, weighing 330t.
Crawling on the bottom, it would collect nodules
and condition them for pumping through the
flexible hose.