Below-Seafloor Borehole Mining 

A typical application area of borehole mining (BHM) includes exploration (bulk sampling), mining, stimulation (oil, gas, water, ISL), and underground construction (storage caverns, curtains, walls, collectors). These operations rely on standard equipment—such as drill rigs, API pipes, swivels, and auxiliary systems—which simplifies field work, reduces maintenance complexity, and ensures the lowest possible OpEx and CapEx. This approach also expands the applicability of BHM to offshore and polar regions, where few, if any, practical mining alternatives exist today.

When mounted on a floating platform or vessel, a drill rig operates the BHM tool exactly as it would onshore. The only difference is that part of the casing column passes through the water column instead of a caprock. The extracted material is then transferred to a cargo vessel for transportation to an onshore processing facility.

It is important to emphasize that borehole mining is not a method of collecting nodules or dredging the seafloor; rather, it mines the resource from beneath the seafloor.

All standard onshore borehole mining techniques can be applied offshore or in polar environments with little or no modification.