The Metals Company processes deep-sea polymetallic nodules
The firm has produced calcine as it begins to process 2,000t of deep-sea polymetallic nodules in Japan.
The Metals Company (TMC) processed the nodules at its partner PAMCO's Hachinohe Rotary Kiln Electric-Arc Furnace facility in Hachinohe.
Engineers have fed around 1,200t of nodules into the 131m-long commercial kiln via conveyor belt at a rate of 60t an hour. This has created roughly 500t of calcine, which will cool slowly before being transferred to a demonstration smelting facility.
TMC says that, as sufficient quantities of calcine have now been produced, PAMCO will start smelting the calcine into a high-grade, nickel-copper-cobalt alloy and manganese silicate in the coming months.
TMC’s Head of Onshore Development, Dr Jeffrey Donald, comments, 'After years of carefully-planned development, bench-scale tests, engineering studies and pilot demonstrations, it’s very exciting to see the world’s first commercial-scale processing of our nodules.'
More like this...
