The integrated lake trial of the deep-sea mining pilot system was a large-scale comprehensive test centred on mining trials of the pilot-scale ocean polymetallic nodule mining system, supplemented by an environmental survey of the trial waters and tests of the CR-02 6,000-metre autonomous underwater vehicle. The main purpose of the trial was to verify the technical feasibility and capability of the mining system through combined tests of lake-bottom mining, local lake-bottom topographic survey and environmental monitoring, to improve the capacity for coordinated operations, to accumulate experience for sea trials, to test the level reached by China’s deep-sea technology development, and to fully demonstrate China’s achievements in deep-sea technology research and development. More than 60 people from the Changsha Institute of Mining Research, the Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Second Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration, Harbin Engineering University, the No. 750 Test Site and other units took part in the trial work.
The trial mainly covered system deployment, a lift-off test after the system settled on the bottom, lake-bottom driving drills, standalone tests of the lifting and transport subsystem, mining-performance tests in which the system collected simulated nodules from the lake bottom and delivered them to the ship, and system recovery. The full trial team moved on site in June 2001. Thanks to sound measures and thorough preparation, and after overcoming numerous difficulties, the first mining run succeeded on 14 September, proving out the complete process chain of the mining system. Combined nodule collection and transport tests followed on 15 September and 17 September. Over the three days, across a cumulative seven collection runs, 900 kg of simulated nodules were collected from the lake bottom at a depth of 130 metres and recovered. The trial was a success. It achieved its goals of proving out the mining system’s process chain, with equipment operating normally and the system able to collect simulated nodules from the lake bottom and deliver them to the surface vessel. The mining trial was completed successfully, met its planned objectives, and advanced China’s deep-sea mining technology toward the world’s highest levels.
