Trelleborg’s engineered products operation has supplied specialty mining hoses to ¡VAMOS! (Viable Alternative Mine Operating System), a 42-month research and development project designed to foster the exploitation and rehabilitation of under exploited and abandoned European deposits of mineral resources.
With Europe’s more accessible mineral deposits largely depleted, deeper-lying resources remain submerged in mines abandoned after flooding or in unmined deposits below the water table.
Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program, the €12.6 million ¡VAMOS! project aims to design and build a robotic, underwater mining prototype for field tests at four inactive submerged mineral deposits at two locations across Europe.
The revolutionary mining technique involves remote operation of the underwater mining equipment from an offshore control station without affecting the local groundwater level.
According to the release, Trelleborg will develop a 200 meter riser hose connecting the underwater mining vehicle to the support vessel on the surface. The hose will have an internal diameter of 200mm and a maximum working pressure of 15 bar.
In addition, Trelleborg will also develop a 236 meter floating slurry hose that conveys the excavated slurry to the shoreline for dewatering.
Designed to float at the surface in fully loaded condition, the hose will have an internal diameter of 150mm and a maximum working pressure of 15 bar.