A custom seafloor-to-shore collection system, built with our robotics partner on a template already proven at industrial scale.
Our system follows the configuration demonstrated in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in 2022, when 3,000 tonnes of nodules were lifted from roughly four kilometres deep — and now being commissioned commercially. Tracked collectors gather nodules on the seabed; a riser lifts them to a surface production vessel; transfer vessels shuttle them to bulk carriers bound for shore.
Target nameplate capacity: 1.5–3.0 million wet tonnes per year, with an industry scale path toward 7 Mtpa. Environmental monitoring runs through the entire chain.
The heart of the system is a tracked, umbilical-powered collector with a hydraulic (Coandă-effect) pickup head that lifts nodules with minimal contact with the seabed. Onboard separation discharges sediment low behind the vehicle to keep the plume small. It runs under supervised autonomy — human-on-the-loop from a surface control room — with degraded modes that always leave the vehicle safe and recoverable.
| Parameter | Target |
|---|---|
| Depth class | 6,000 m · 600 bar qualification |
| Throughput | ~250 wet t/h sustained, per vehicle |
| Pickup | Coandă hydraulic head · ≥80% efficiency |
| Nodules | 1–15 cm diameter |
| Locomotion | Low-ground-pressure tracks · ~0.5 m/s |
| Power / comms | HV electrical + fibre via umbilical |
| Operating depth | 4,000–4,500 m · qualification to 6,000 m class |
| Pressure | ~450 bar at depth · qualify to 600 bar with margin |
| Temperature | 1–2 °C at seabed, constant |
| Light | Total darkness — all sensing active: sonar, lights, lasers |
| Seabed | Very soft clay/silt — low ground-pressure locomotion required |
| Mission | 273 operating days / year · launch & recovery in defined sea states |
Following the path the industry has already walked, the system is qualified in stages — each gate a condition before the next:
Best Available Technology, by requirement. The collection system is designed to constitute Best Available Technology (BAT) for minimizing seabed disturbance, plume, noise and light — a condition of environmental compliance and permit approval, not an afterthought. See our environmental standard →