Key points
- Kingston Process Metallurgy, led by project leader Trevor LaBelle, is running small-scale test work for DeepGreen on manganese sea nodules using several-hundred-gram samples ahead of a large-scale pilot.
- The process starts with calcination: crushed nodules are weighed, mixed with reductant and flux, sealed in a stainless steel capsule, and heated in a rotary kiln to 900 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
- The calcined product is then smelted in a quartz reactor with an induction-heated graphite susceptor under flowing argon, reaching 1,500 degrees Celsius and holding for 30 minutes.
- After cooling, the crucible is broken open to separate metal from slag for analysis, yielding a metal product.
