Electrifing our future means higher demands of metals like copper which is usually mined in open-pit mines in Chile, Peru, or the Indonesian Archipelago. Estimates show that demand will growth threefold within the next 30 years. To meet that demand either production of existing mines has to be increased dramatically – with all resulting consequences or an alternative approach could be to mine the ore directly at spots where they are formed: in the rift zones of the oceans. While ores in terrestrial mines usually contain 0.5 to 1.2% of copper, buried under overburden of up to several hundred meters, massive sulphide ore formed by black smokers can contain up to 25% copper, and can be found atop the seabed. Under the right circumstances, mining these ores could use less energy and resources and produce a smaller environmental impact than land-based mining.
With the Deep Sea Sampling Project, focus is taken on both, machinery to mine the ore as well as protection gear to minimize the impact on the environment. The vertical approach is a cut of an area of approximately 3 x 1.5 m placed directly at the location of the ore. Shields around the milling head provide passive protection of the immediate environment while hydro cyclones cause a pressure difference to contain the emitted particles within the mining site. The ore is immediately transported into a closed container and then lifted to the surface for further processing. This approach is intended to minimize the footprint of the mining operation and limit the environmental impact with minimal emissions of contaminants to the deep sea ecosystem.
The Deep Sea Sampling Project is coordinated by Bauer Maschinen GmbH were the envisioned mining technology is mainly developed and currently in its second phase. In this phase, the prototype technology will be integrated in a demonstrator that will be tested in shallow water, further developing and integrating the concept. If successful, a future third project would test this vertical mining approach for massive sulphides in the deep sea and aim to develop an economically viable mining strategy. Other project partners include Motion Makers GmbH, Blue Installation Group GmbH, the universities of Freiberg, Erlangen, and Rostock and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources in Hannover. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (grant 03SX634G for the Constructor University project). For more information on the overall project, visit www.deepseasampling.de
The project of Constructor University focusses on the environmental monitoring during the project, particularly of heavy metal and particle emissions that are the main parameters to potentially affect the surrounding environment of a deep sea mining site using the vertical approach of Deep Sea Sampling. We will use established methods of sampling water and sediment with spectrometric and electrochemical laboratory measurements of trace metal concentrations as well as test new technologies for direct in-situ measurements of labile metals. With these, we aim to quantify the emissions of heavy metals and particles during the mining test to estimate the impact of a deployment in the deep sea and develop an effective monitoring strategy to be used in the planned third project phase and during a potential mining operation.
For the in-situ measurement of trace metals, we will test the Voltammetric In-Situ Profiler (VIP) to measure the labile concentrations of cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc. Additionally, we will measure the hydrographic water properties that control the geochemical behavior of metals and take water samples for laboratory analysis of a broader range of analytes and validation of the in-situ measurements. These measurements and samples will be acquired in water column profiles as well as on a stationary monitoring platform that is being developed by our partners at the university of Rostock. Combining high vertical resolution profiles with stationary but continuous monitoring will be a the main components of the environmental monitoring to characterize the behavior of emitted particles and metals.
Constructor University has two PostDoc positions within DSS II. Nico Fröhberg is responsible for the analytical and technical aspects of the project including development of the techincal concept for the in-situ monitoring, testing and validation of the VIP and integration in the monitoring platform in cooperation with the partners at the university of Rostock. A second position will develop the monitoring concept and environmental regulatory framework starting in late 2026.