Key points TMC has identified 1.6 billion tons of polymetallic nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone containing 1.3% nickel, 1.1% copper, 0.2% cobalt, and approximately 30% manganese; Mining.com ranked the company’s projects as the number one and two largest nickel projects on the…
Key points In 2022, Allseas and TMC conducted the first integrated collection system trials in the CCZ since the 1970s on the Nori D field, lifting over 3,000 tonnes of nodules from a depth of more than four kilometers. The system uses a subsea collector with pickup, processing and transfer…
Key points TMC Chief Sustainability Officer Erica Ocampo outlines the NORI-D project in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, about 1,500 miles west of the US coast, where nodules contain nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese. The NORI and TOML contract areas, sponsored by Nauru and Tonga, were ranked…
Key points A team of 37 marine researchers from independent institutions, including the University of Hawaii, Texas A&M University and JAMSTEC, examined the pelagic biology of the CCZ in the NORI-D exploration area, from macro to microbial level. The expedition studied impacts of…
Key points Engineers drove the pilot collector vehicle over 80 km across the seafloor in NORI-D, collecting approximately 4,500 tonnes of polymetallic nodules. The system lifted over 3,000 tonnes of nodules up a 4.3-km riser to the surface vessel Hidden Gem. The Allseas-designed pilot system…
Key points TMC’s NORI-D program tests the technical performance of a prototype nodule collector vehicle and measures its impacts in a controlled area of the seabed. The monitoring campaign runs in three phases: a baseline program before impact, a collector test phase measuring effects…