Another important milestone completed. On 7 July Ebba Busch surprised us by sending a signed exploration permit, which we had expected would take until October or November. That let us move on and start up processes we had already begun, since the permit had been verbally promised as early as December 2022.
One of the processes that is fundamental to further surveys is hydrographic surveying of the seabed in the planned operating areas. Such surveying is carried out with the help of various kinds of instrument that all have in common that they send sound pulses of different strengths in order to obtain different data, such as detecting wrecks and other objects, obtaining a three-dimensional picture of the seabed structure, and being able to see deeper down into the seabed’s layers of clay, sediment and, in this case, manganese nodules. An ordinary echo sounder works on the same principle, but is a simpler instrument. It is an official requirement that we must carry out a hydrographic survey before we can move on to taking physical samples directly from the seabed sediment or from the water.
The hydrographic survey company CLINTON has carried out the assignment with its vessel Northern Storm. The area they have managed to survey makes up about 15 to 20 percent of the areas for which we hold permits. We have to wait for a final report until the middle of February, but what we have been able to see so far looks very promising. Above all, the nodule bed can be seen in the upper layer of the seabed and can be up to about 20 cm thick and compact. That probably means both that it prevents the amphipod Monoporeia affinis, for example, from digging down into the bottom, and that the quantity of manganese nodules appears to be considerably higher than what has previously been stated in the scientific reports presented for the Bothnian Bay.
Even though we are a small organisation with limited means, we have managed to come a good way along in this project.
That the hydrographic survey is complete for at least one area is an important factor if we are to succeed in showing that we can recover nodules in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
