[QUOTE][IMG]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/TLKx24r_kKI/AAAAAAAAJY0/oneoKkIKTvA/s1600/oceanfloor7.JPG[/IMG]
Nautilus Minerals is preparing the equipment to start ocean floor mining in 2013
The Offshore Production System comprises three main components:
* Seafloor Production Tools;
* Riser and Lifting System; and
* Production Support Vessel.
Seafloor Production Tools (SPTs)
Rock is disaggregated on the seafloor by two large robotic machines that excavate material by a continuous cutting process, not unlike coal or other bulk continuous mining machines on land. The Auxiliary Cutter ("AC") is a preparatory machine that deals with rough terrain and creates benches for the other machines to work. It will operate on tracks with spud assistance and has a boom mounted cutting head for flexibility. The second machine, the Bulk Cutter ("BC"), has higher cutting capacity but will be limited to working benches created by the AC. Both machines leave cut material on the seafloor for collection by the Collecting Machine ("CM"). The CM, also a large robotic vehicle, will collect the cut material (sand, gravel, silt) by drawing it in as seawater slurry with internal pumps and pushing it through a flexible pipe to the Riser and Lifting System.
[IMG]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/TLKyJeFnKeI/AAAAAAAAJY4/6PZjGkqhPD8/s1600/oceanfloor8.JPG[/IMG]
[IMG]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/TLKw95R8XoI/AAAAAAAAJYo/oJ1bZPzrHOs/s1600/nus8.png[/IMG]
Riser and Lifting System (RALS)
[QUOTE]The RALS comprises a large pump and rigid riser pipe hanging from a vessel which delivers the slurry to the surface. The proposed positive displacement pump is designed and built by GE Hydril (Houston, TX). The pump hangs from a solid vertical (riser) pipe suspended beneath the support vessel. The pipe is deployed to the seabed by a derrick and draw works system on board the vessel.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/TLKw0o9LcWI/AAAAAAAAJYk/CK39TBL50js/s1600/nus7.png[/IMG]
Production Support Vessel (PSV)
On deck of the production support vessel, the slurry is dewatered. The dewatered solid material is discharged to a transportation barge moored alongside. Used seawater is pumped back to the seafloor through the riser pipes and providing hydraulic power to operate the RALS pump. Discharge of the return water at the seafloor will avoid impacts to the warm surface seawaters, minimizing environmental impact of the operation.
The transportation barges haul the material 50 kms to a stockpile location in the Port of Rabaul.
[IMG]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/TLKwtM85qRI/AAAAAAAAJYg/wiEv5l5_X8Q/s1600/nus6.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/TLKxLBMkTdI/AAAAAAAAJYs/GZKN76aCmsc/s1600/nus9.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/TLKxQa0bzXI/AAAAAAAAJYw/iQslHUZP71E/s1600/nus10.png[/IMG][/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/10/ocean-floor-mining-equipment.html[/url]
This means that regardless of how much I'd like to, the ocean floor still has a lot of unexploited resources and there's no need to go to the asteroids.
HOWEVER, the asteroids have the resources Earth doesn't have and we're going to start needing in a few decades, like Platinium and other highly-malleable highly-conductive elements.
I was actually thinking about this the other day. The ocean covers 70% of earth, there has to be a lot of mineral deposits down there. We need to be careful with this though. Unearthing various metals/minerals can have negative effects on ocean life in the area. For example, Invertebrates are highly sensitive to copper. If you unearth a huge copper deposit and slurry it up for retrieval, some of the copper will no doubt make it's way into the water column.
[QUOTE=OvB;25361534]I was actually thinking about this the other day. The ocean covers 70% of earth, there has to be a lot of mineral deposits down there.[/QUOTE]
It's going to be a bitch to drain all of that stuff to the surface, but since we're apparently running out of the important stuff here on the continental landmasses...
Next step: Von Neumann probes to the asteroids.
Fuck yeah man finally, I imagine that volcanic ridges undersea would also be good places to harvest from.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;25361552]It's going to be a bitch to drain all of that stuff to the surface, but since we're apparently running out of the important stuff here on the continental landmasses...
Next step: Von Neumann probes to the asteroids.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, It's not pressurized like an oil well. At least on the bright side you're not going to have blow outs of some heavy metal or something.
Seems interesting. There's still a lot of things down there that have not been discovered, has to be plenty of resources.
[QUOTE=bravehat;25361587]Fuck yeah man finally, I imagine that volcanic ridges undersea would also be good places to harvest from.[/QUOTE]
That'd be a feat in itself. The deepest part of the mid Atlantic ridge is around 7 times deeper than the stuff the BP rig was poking around in. If something goes catastrophically wrong there, it might as well be on an asteroid.
You could just harvest the sea floor near volcanically active islands instead of going to the abyss of the ocean.
:science:
[QUOTE=bravehat;25361689]You could just harvest the sea floor near volcanically active islands instead of going to the abyss of the ocean.
:science:[/QUOTE]
But the abyss is where all the :cthulhu: 's are. It's more interesting!
Pictures reminded me of Red Alert 2... Nostalgia :(
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;25361701]But the abyss is where all the :cthulhu: 's are. It's more interesting![/QUOTE]
Too right. :v: Lantern Fish look creepy but cool, and you find them down there:
[img_thumb]http://sreeh.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/lanternfish.jpg[/img_thumb]
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;25361701]But the abyss is where all the :cthulhu: 's are. It's more interesting![/QUOTE]
We do not need the old ones fucking up our deep sea mining operations :colbert:
Besides barrel eye fish are better.
[img]http://kidsblogs.nationalgeographic.com/kidsnews/assets/news_images/kids-barrel-fish-lg.jpg[/img]
Fuck yeah robots
nest step: asteroids
They should have nicknamed the Riser and Lift System "Randls" instead of "RALS" It feels easier to say in conversation.
Welcome to this century. It is awesome.
[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/TLKw95R8XoI/AAAAAAAAJYo/oJ1bZPzrHOs/s1600/nus8.png[/img]
Reminds me of MOON
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