MarMine - Exploitation technologies for marine minerals on the extended Norwegian continental shelf

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2015

End date

12/31/2020

Budget

3,065,775 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

The MarMine project was launched in 2015 and included three research partners and 14 industry partners. NTNU was the project owner and the research was mainly carried out with NTNU and NIVA as the main actors. The industry partners representing e.g., oil and gas companies, oil service companies, subsea companies, shipping and mining companies. Five research WPs were included in the project, WP1: Sample identification and collection; WP2: Mineral processing options for submarine massive sulphide ores; WP3: Feasibility study for a Deep-sea mining Pilot; WP4: Characterization and WP5: Methods to assess environmental impacts and recovery potential. Additionally, one WP was responsible for project management and dissemination of results. The budget was 31.155 MNOK and a large portion of the budget was dedicated to the research cruise to the Arctic Mid Ocean Ridge, specifically, the Mohn´s Ridge. The cruise was carried out on board the Construction Support Vessel (CSV) Polar King. During the research cruise, two work class ROVs were used to collect geological (rocks and sediments), biological samples and imagery along video transects, as well as hyperspectral imaging. As part of the cruise, an ROV mounted drill rig (ROCS) was developed and tested for drilling rocks and sediments on the seafloor. The Hugin HUS AUV was equipped with several detectors and sensors for collection of e.g. bathymetry and magnetometry data, hyperspectral imaging, methane and Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD). A full report from the cruise and all activities at sea can be found in the MarMine Cruise Report (https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/handle/11250/2427715). All sample material and data were brought back to the mainland and processed and analysed, mainly at NTNU but some also at the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) and NIVA and their partners. The research in the project was carried out by scientific staff at NTNU and researchers at partner organizations. At NTNU, two postdocs (WP2 and WP4) and 1 PhD candidate (WP1) were funded through the project. Additionally, 1 PhD student funded by NTNU Ocean worked directly under the MarMine project (WP3). In close cooperation with the Deep-Sea Mining Pilot under NTNU Ocean, two PhD candidates (participated on the research cruise) and one postdoctoral researcher was indirectly involved with the project and based parts of their research on data and/or material from the cruise. Also, two master theses have been completed on data from the project (Paulsen, E., 2017; Reimers, H., 2017). Post research-cruise research included sampling and analyses of the collected rocks and sediment material, and biological samples from the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge. Peer reviewed journal articles and conference presentations have been published based on the results from all five work packages. Communications from the MarMine consortium includes: 17 peer reviewed publications 43 conference papers, presentation and posters 17 other outreach and media contributions Link to a list of all communications from the MarMine project can be found here: https://bit.ly/2KxQ95X In addition to the above-mentioned communications, the MarMine project has contributed to extend the networks of the individual researcher as well as research groups within the research partner organizations. Industry partners have been given access to data and research results as well as broadened networks towards the deep-sea mining community. Some of the industry partners have applied knowledge obtained from projects such as the MarMine project to further determine their short- and long-term strategies within deep sea mining. The project ended formally on December 31st, 2020 but research on sample material and data collected from the research cruise in 2016 to the Mohn´s Ridge will continue.