Korea has discovered an effective way by which a high volume of manganese, often called the “deep sea bonanza,” can be loaded safely onto ships. This breakthrough tech is the first of its kind worldwide.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has succeeded in pilot tests where it deployed the subsea mining robot Minaero to collect ore from the seafloor and to send it up to a buffer system installed about 500 meters below the surface of the water. There, the collected ore is pumped through 8-inch vertical pipes, called yangguang riser pipes, up to the ship.
Yangguang riser pipes and pumps are used to draw manganese up from the seabed.
Manganese nodules are formed because metal elements that exist in seawater and other deposits undergo a chemical reaction about 5,000 meters below the surface, and then settle on the seafloor. The minerals contain a large amount of metals that are used as basic materials in the high-tech industry, such as nickel, copper and cobalt.
These new systems were entirely developed using domestic technologies, from the buffer system and theyangguang riser pipes through to the pump, the real-time remote software used in the system and the on-board equipment that collects the manganese nodules. This last separates them from the seawater and then discharges the water out of the ship.
Manganese nodules, one of the core minerals used widely in the high tech industry, are deposited across the seafloor.
“The development of deep-sea mineral resource mining technologies like this is a crucial skill required in extreme underwater environments,” said an official from the Ministry of Oceans & Fisheries. “We will be able to create new marine industries by securing a stable and sustainable supply of rich mineral resources and constantly developing related underwater technologies.”
By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries
jiae5853@korea.kr
After collected by the mining robot Minaero, samples of manganese are transferred through the pipes and up to the buffer system, pictured above.
