Undersea mining has made a leap forward with the development and testing of a new machine in the UK.
Proactive Investors flagged the announcement from Specialist Machine Developments, a UK company that was acquired last year by a subsidiary of China’s CRRC Zhouzhou Institute.
Land-based testing of the 310 tonne deep sea ore harvester was recently completed in Newcastle.
Details are sketchy, but the new machine was touted as the world’s most powerful to date, boasting two megawatts of power and capacity for underwater oil and gas, trenching and cable laying applications.
The equipment is designed to be used in conjunction with a cutting machine and collecting machine to engage in mining activities.