Key points
- COMRA convened experts in Changsha on November 23 to re-review CRIMM’s polymetallic nodule collector test system and 500-meter sea trial project.
- A seven-member panel from institutions including CSSC’s 708th Research Institute and Tsinghua University passed the implementation plan.
- The project follows CRIMM’s completed 300-meter ore-lifting pump and pipe sea trial.
- It aims to move China’s nodule collector vehicle from inland lakes to the ocean and support a 1,000-meter integrated trial.
On November 23, the China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association (COMRA) convened experts in Changsha for a meeting to re-review the implementation plan of the project “Development of a Polymetallic Nodule Collector Test System and 500-Meter Sea Trial,” undertaken by Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (CRIMM). The re-review expert panel responsible for re-evaluating the project’s implementation plan consisted of seven experts from the 708th Research Institute of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Tsinghua University, the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, the Changsha Institute of Mining Research, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hunan University, and the National University of Defense Technology.
At the meeting, the expert panel heard reports from the project’s lead unit and the participating units. After questioning and discussion, it unanimously passed the re-review of the implementation plan and offered valuable comments and suggestions for the project’s subsequent work. The successful convening of this implementation-plan review meeting laid a good foundation for the further implementation of the project.
The project will be another major undertaking by CRIMM in the field of deep-sea mining, following its completion of China’s first sea trial of an ore-lifting pump and pipeline system at a water depth of 300 meters. It strives to achieve a breakthrough by carrying China’s nodule collector vehicle from inland lakes to the ocean, and to provide support for an integrated linked trial of China’s deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining system at a water depth of 1,000 meters.
