Below-Seafloor Borehole Mining 

     A typical application area of borehole mining includes exploration (bulk sampling), mining, stimulation (oil, gas, water, ISL), and underground construction (storage, curtains, walls, drainage, and collector systems). All these operations rely on standard, off-the-shelf equipment, such as drill rigs, pumps, API pipes, swivels, and auxiliary systems, to streamline field operations, reduce maintenance complexity, and achieve minimal OpEx and CapEx. This approach finally expands the applicability of BHM to offshore, desert, and polar regions, where a few, if any, practical mining alternatives exist today.

     When mounted on a floating platform or vessel, a drill rig operates the BHM tool in the same manner as it would onshore. The only difference is that the casing column partially passes through the water column, rather than the overburden. The extracted material is then transferred to a cargo vessel for transportation to an onshore processing facility.

    It is important to underline that borehole mining is neither a seabed nodule collection nor a dredging technique; rather, it extracts the resources from well below the seafloor. The casing column (shown on the right) runs from the production interval to the vessel deck, completely encapsulating the tool and mining operations and preventing ocean disturbance.

     All standard onshore borehole mining techniques are applicable offshore as well as in polar environments with little or no modification.