Key points
- The research vessel Xiangyanghong 06 returned to Qingdao on December 1, completing China Minmetals’ first at-sea survey voyage in its international seabed contract area.
- Led by CRIMM, the expedition worked 95 days over a voyage of roughly 10,000 kilometres in the eastern Pacific.
- It obtained full-coverage seafloor topography for six blocks, covering 74 percent of the contract area, and verified polymetallic nodule distribution in the A5 block.
At 10 a.m. on December 1, on a sunny early-winter morning in Qingdao, the Xiangyanghong 06 research vessel, on its first ocean scientific expedition, returned from the eastern Pacific, successfully completing the first at-sea survey voyage in China Minmetals’ international seabed contract area. Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Co., Ltd. (CRIMM) held the voyage work inspection and on-site acceptance meeting in Qingdao. Li Bo, deputy director of the China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association (COMRA), attended, and CRIMM general manager Yang Yingliang and deputy general manager and chief financial officer Zhang Baozhong were on hand to welcome the returning expedition. Leaders and representatives of the participating institutions, including the Second Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration, the North China Sea Branch of the State Oceanic Administration and the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, as well as all of the voyage’s survey personnel, took part in the event.
At the meeting, after hearing voyage work reports from chief scientist Li Xiaohu, temporary Party committee secretary Xu Xiaoshu and others, general manager Yang Yingliang said the expedition members had lived up to their mission, working tirelessly over 95 days and a voyage of roughly 10,000 kilometers (20,000 li) to complete the voyage tasks. He encouraged the team to stand at a new historical starting point and devote themselves to the nation’s ocean endeavors with unity, drive and a stronger sense of responsibility, mission and honor.
This voyage was China’s first international seabed resource survey expedition conducted with an enterprise as the principal party, and an important component of the deep-sea resource exploration portion of China’s Jiaolong Explores the Sea program. Despite a large operating area, complex sea conditions and a long working period, the expedition overcame numerous difficulties and completed its scientific tasks safely and successfully, with substantial results. For the first time, full-coverage seafloor topography, geomorphology and other geophysical data were obtained for six blocks of the contract area, accounting for 74 percent of its total area, and geological sampling verified the distribution characteristics of polymetallic nodule resources in the A5 block at the western end, laying an important foundation for subsequent exploration and development.
The successful voyage played an important role in raising CRIMM’s capabilities and profile in marine mineral resource development. It was a major step by China Minmetals in fulfilling its international seabed contract and its strategic mission as a guarantor of resource security, and an integration of national and corporate strategy, ocean science and resource exploration.
