Key points
- Hidden Gem completed a two-month pilot nodule collection test in NORI-D in the Clarion Clipperton Zone, the first trial of a fully integrated collection system with riser in the CCZ since the 1970s, run by a 130-strong team.
- Production runs netted an estimated 4500 tonnes of polymetallic nodules, with the collector driven more than 83 kilometres across the seafloor and nodules transported via a 4.3-kilometre riser to Hidden Gem.
- Scientists aboard a dedicated monitoring vessel used ROVs and AUVs to track sediment plumes and noise levels, data that will feed NORI’s exploitation contract application to the International Seabed Authority.
- Allseas and TMC plan to scale the system to commercial production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes of wet nodules per year, targeting readiness by Q4 2024.
