facility to facilitate the loading of minerals on a marine vessel, installation network and method of mineral delivery to a marine vessel for loading.

摘要

The present invention relates to an installation (10) for facilitating the loading of minerals into a marine vessel (80). The installation comprises an onshore slurrying facility (20) for fluidising the minerals into a slurry; an offshore separation facility (40) for removing at least some of the fluid from the slurry; a pipeline (23) fluidly connecting the slurrying facility to the separation facility; and a pump for conveying the slurry from the slurrying facility to the separation facility along the pipeline. The minerals are available for offshore loading from the installation onto the vessel.