In late 1977, a dynamically stationed drillship, SEDCO 445, will be used in the North Pacific Ocean to deploy equipment for recovering 5000 short tons of manganese nodules. This pilot test will be conducted in 5300 meters of water for an international consortium and will utilize many proven designs and techniques of the offshore drilling industry. These proven techniques and some of the newly designed methods will be presented in this paper to emphasize the desirability of a continuation of technology transfer between this newly emerging mining industry and the existing offshore drilling industry.
Deep ocean mining activity has taken a dramatic upward swing during the last 7 years. In 1970, Deepsea Ventures successfully conducted a manganese nodule mining test in 740 meters of water and became the first company to attract attention to the feasibility of hydraulically mining nodules. Increased metals prices, the need for potential stable metal sources, the talk of metal cartels, and improved technology have contributed to the formation of four active international consortiums. All companies are actively exploring the area between the Clarion and Clipperton fracture zones shown in Figure 1.
Ocean Management, Inc. located in Bellevue, Washington, is one of the four active. ocean mining groups. OMI represents and manages the activities of the four equal shareholders who are INCO (Canadian), DOMCO (Japanese), AMR (W. German), and SEDCO (U.S.)
During the last quarter of 1977, OMI will commence a pilot mining test using the dynamically stationed drillship, SEDCO 445 as illustrated in Figure 2. SEDCO is responsible for a major portion of the shipboard hardware design and operation during the planned 7 to 8 month test period. Many of the techniques to be used for operating the vessel and deploying equipment have been proven by the offshore drilling industry.
In contrast to the proven methods planned for this operation, some unique tools and procedures will be used. It is anticipated that some of the special mining equipment and procedures can be used by the offshore drilling industry in their search for fossil fuels in deep water.
With offshore operations extending into deeper water and more inhospitable environments, this decade has seen the development of the drillship progress from a tethered ship-shaped drilling platform into an efficiently designed, dynamically positioned mobile drilling vessel. Operational range and capability have been extended dramatically over the past decade. Similarly, the volume of engineering and operational experience necessary to produce these achievements has grown considerably. It is this wealth of knowledge of shipboard operations in a deep ocean environment that has provided the greatest of dividends to the newly emerging deep ocean mining industry.
