심해저 망간단괴 시험집광기와 근해역 성능 실증시험

Abstract

This paper presents the performance test results of a self-propelled test miner, designed for shallow water test aiming at the practicalization of the core technologies. The test miner has been developed in scale of 1/20~1/10 of the commercial capacity. An inshore site near Hupo was selected for the performance tests. The test miner was operated by means of the real-time remote control system and LARS(Launch & Recovery System) of 200kW-class ROV, which were placed on the barge of 2,000ton. The seafloor was prepared with artificial nodules(20mm) of 45 tons. The shear strength of the sandy-clay soil scatters in range of 3~5kPa. DGPS and USBL were used for the localization of the test miner on the seafloor. The performance of the test miner shows that it is viable to make progress in development of the pilot mining system.