Mining the depths

The paper mentions that companies are racing to sample the wealth of minerals below the surface of the ocean. The race to the seabed is being led by two companies, Nautilus Minerals with a project off Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Neptune Minerals in the seas off New Zealand. Nautilus is proposing to develop the Solwara SMS system in the territorial waters of PNG. Nautilus' proposed mining system will consist of an excavator, a support ship, and a riser and lifting system to pump metal sulphide debris to the surface. At present, the oil and gas industry is experimenting with seafloor processing that saves the expense of pumping huge amounts of water and sand to the surface for separation, only to have to pump it back to the seabed after extracting the oil.