Early Stage Decisions in Marine Systems Design for Deep-Sea Mining

Abstract

This article studies the prospects for deep seabed mining as a future viable maritime industry, and discuss the commercial, operational, and technical viability of deep seabed mining. By the use of a business development approach originating from the maritime industry, we analyse opportunities for a virtual deep seabed mining project, and identify aspects of stakeholder performance expectations, contextualised by the competitive positioning and identification of related project risks. We discuss strategies and pit-falls when positioning a deep seabed mining venture within the wider mining and metal production value chain, and use a case example in the Northern Atlantic Ocean to study the prospects for a deep seabed mining operation and subsequent system design implications. Furthermore, we contrast to well-established industries like offshore oil and gas, and traditional land-based mining. The study promotes several critical aspects and problem areas when approaching marine systems design for deep seabed mining.

Assessment of expected production of a deep‐sea mining system: An integrated model‐based systems engineering and discrete event simulation approach

“…The economic performance of a deep-sea mining system is linked to its ability to produce continually, which in turn is determined by the capacities of each sub-system, how they relate, and also the negative influence of any downtime. 2 The complexity of this topic, along with the limited information, turns the attention to relevant methods for developing models to design offshore production systems and how well they provide insight. Traditional systems design methods, where requirements are decided upon early in the design process, are increasingly regarded as too rigid.…”