Chatham, Deltares, Boskalis receive Dutch Government grant
6 December 2016
Chatham, Deltares and Boskalis receive Dutch Government research grant
Chatham Rock Phosphate and its Dutch technical partners Boskalis and Deltares have received Dutch government research funding to improve the environmental management of marine mining. This co-funding has been awarded by The Netherlands based Topsector Water TKI Delta technology.
The increased global interest in the economic and environmental outcomes of marine mining for resources such as phosphate, manganese nodules and polymetallic sulphides has highlighted the need to develop tools and methods to predict, adaptively manage and reduce the environmental effects of marine mining.
Lack of field observations
Adapting
computer-modelling tools to predict plume dispersion for
deep-sea mining (or dredging) operations is hampered by a
lack of field observations in these environments.
It is
possible to validate hydrodynamic and sediment resuspension
models by deploying sensors for field observations over
several months. Validating the predicted sediment plume
dispersion is much more difficult as it requires a
large-scale source of suspended material in the water such
as trial mining. Trial mining requires an environmental
permit, which usually requires knowledge of the sediment
plume behaviour.
The research project will investigate the behaviour of re-deposited material using a combination of state of the art laboratory analyses and computer modelling to assess both the plume dispersion and the continuous process of settling, deposition and bed formation of sand and silt. The results will reduce the uncertainties regarding predicting re-suspension and dispersion of the material being returned to the seabed.
Ways to
adaptively manage re-deposited sand and
silt
This jointly developed project will make
computer models of plume dispersion more realistic and will
look at ways to adaptively manage re-deposited sand and silt
in deep water. Additionally, the project will investigate
the use of flocculants, natural materials that can be added
to the returned sand and silt to make the sediment plume
settle from the water more quickly. This may be the first
time flocculants have been considered for deep water mining
or dredging
Public-private
partnerships
The Dutch Ministry for Economic
Affairs stimulates public-private partnerships between
research organizations and companies in the Topsector Water
TKI Delta technology by allocating and awarding funds to
reviewed high quality research proposals. Deltares is an
independent institute for applied research in the field of
water, subsurface and infrastructure, and Boskalis is a
marine services company. Chatham Rock Phosphate intends to
apply for a marine consent to extract rock phosphate from
the seabed on the Chatham Rise, east of New Zealand.
The results are being developed using the vast amount of data already available for the Chatham Rise marine mining project, but will have direct relevance to all projects in the offshore mining and dredging industry
Chris
Castle
CEO
Chatham
Rock Phosphate Limited
About
Deltares
Deltares is an independent institute
for applied research in the field of water and subsurface.
Throughout the world, we work on smart solutions,
innovations and applications for people, environment and
society. Our main focus is on deltas, coastal regions and
river basins. Managing these densely populated and
vulnerable areas is complex, which is why we work closely
with governments, businesses, other research institutes and
universities at home and abroad. Our motto is Enabling Delta
Life. As an applied research institute, the success of
Deltares can be measured in the extent to which our expert
knowledge can be used in and for society. For Deltares the
quality of our expertise and advice comes
first.
About Royal Boskalis
Westminster
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V.
is a leading global services provider operating in the
dredging, maritime infrastructure and maritime services
sectors. The company provides creative and innovative
all-round solutions to infrastructural challenges in the
maritime, coastal and delta regions of the world with
services including the construction and maintenance of ports
and waterways, land reclamation, coastal defense and
riverbank protection. In addition, Boskalis offers a wide
variety of marine services and contracting for the oil and
gas sector and offshore wind industry as well as salvage
solutions (SMIT Salvage). Furthermore, Boskalis has a number
of strategic partnerships in harbour towage and terminal
services (KOTUG SMIT Towage, Keppel Smit Towage, Saam Smit
Towage and Smit Lamnalco). With a versatile fleet of 1,000
units Boskalis operates in around 75 countries across six
continents. Boskalis has over 8,200 employees, excluding its
share in partnerships.
About Chatham Rock Phosphate
Chatham Rock Phosphate, a publicly listed company, was granted a mining permit in 2013 to develop New Zealand’s only significant source of environmentally friendly pastoral phosphate fertiliser and is now preparing for a revised environmental consent application.
Our role as custodian of this resource is focused on delivering a secure and sustainable local supply of low-cadmium phosphate that will reduce fertiliser run-off into waterways, produce healthier soils and shrink fertiliser needs over time.
The resource has an estimated worth of $5 to $7 billion, representing one of New Zealand’s most valuable mineral assets and is of huge strategic significance because phosphate is essential to maintain New Zealand’s high agricultural productivity. Local and international investors have contributed more than $40 million to develop the project’s financial viability, environmental benefits and impacts, technical and logistical requirements, local and international product uses.
We propose to extract up to 1.5 million
tonnes of phosphate nodules from the top half metre of sand
on identified parts of an 820km2 area on the Chatham Rise,
450km off the west coast of New Zealand, in waters of 400m.
Our environmental consenting process has established
extraction would have no material impact on fishing yields
or profitability, marine mammals or seabirds.
In
progressing plans to submit a new application we are working
with government officials to seek improvement in the
permitting process and iwi, academic, industry and central
government input to ensure New Zealand can benefit from an
environmentally superior phosphate source.
Progress is continuing to achieve a Toronto Stock
Exchange listing, to provide a more useful share-trading
platform for overseas shareholders and facilitate the
capital raising needed for the consenting process and
beyond.
We are also seeking to own other
sustainable rock phosphate sources, to move from being a
single project company and take more control of our
destiny.