Engineering Philosophies Associated With Subsea Diamond Sampling And Mining

摘要

The offshore diamond mining industries of Namibia and South Africa have, since the late 1950's developed various techniques to sample for and mine gem quality stones in water depths up to 200 m. These techniques range from relatively simple airlift pumps to remotely operated vehicles. The paper describes the engineering philosophies which have been developed, tried and tested over the years to successfully establish a subsea diamond sampling or mining operation. The overall philosophy that emerges is of particular interest to international mining companies that are entering the marine mining industry for the first time.rnThe philosophies developed involve firstly the consideration of the necessary engineering requirements associated with the establishment of the operation and secondly the order in which these requirements are considered. The requirements include the choice of the sampling or mining equipment, equipment positioning and control, launch and recovery of equipment, transportation of diamondiferous material from the seabed to the mother vessel, processing of the diamondiferous material, vessel station holding and selection of a suitable vessel.rnEach of these requirements is, not only, evaluated in terms of the establishment of an operation, but in addition , an account is given of current practices, actual experiences and developments that have been made.rnFuture developments in the marine diamond industry will concentrate on the optimisation of current techniques and on water depths greater than 200 m. Specific areas which require further development are therefore suggested and briefly discussed.