Supporting undersea mining
Sandvik has designed and built the cutting drum for the Bulk Cutter, which is the first of Seafloor Production Tools, and an important step closer to making seafloor mining a reality.
Canada-based Nautilus Minerals has been granted the first mining lease for polymetallic seafloor massive sulfide deposits in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, where it intends to produce copper, gold and silver. The company has completed its first seafloor production tool, a high-productivity machine responsible for the bulk of the production. The machine's cutting drum was designed and built by Sandvik, and its design is similar to those used on large continuous miner machines.
The Bulk Cutter is the the first, and heaviest, of the three seafloor production tools to be assembled, weighing 310 ton when fully assembled. It is designed to be the high productivity machine responsible for the bulk of production.