Subsea Mining: Arctic Canadian Diamond, IHC unveil innovative Crawler

Arctic Canadian Diamond Company and IHC Mining report that they have reached the next important milestone in the development of the underwater remote mining (URM) system for the extraction of diamond-bearing kimberlite ore from deep open pits at the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Arctic Canadian awarded IHC Mining with a contract to build and deliver an Underwater Mining Crawler for the URM system, a contract that follows the first milestone of the Launch and Recovery Platform being awarded by Arctic Canadian for the URM system, earlier this year. The platform is scheduled for delivery by the end of 2022.

Arctic Canadian and IHC Mining started their cooperation in 2018, to jointly develop a mining solution. The starting point for the development of the underwater remote mining system, was to economically extract kimberlite from marginal kimberlite pipes and from deep extents of completed open pits. An important focus is to develop a mining solution that would have a much lower environmental impact than conventional mining methods. As the URM crawler is only mining the kimberlite ore and minimal waste, it significantly reduces the mine’s footprint. The URM solution could allow the Ekati Diamond Mine to extend its lifetime by at least 10 years.

The underwater mining crawler is a remote operated continuous mining machine, equipped with the latest underwater control and positioning equipment. The ore is directly excavated with a drum cutter in small layers and eliminates the need for blasting explosives. From the crawler the ore is pumped to the surface of the flooded pit via a vertical pipeline system to the Launch and Recovery Platform, from where the ore is transported further to a dewatering plant. The crawler system is capable of operating at a water depth of up to 400m.

The mining crawler will be built at Royal IHC’s premises in the UK and delivered to Arctic Canadian late 2023. It will then be trialled in the Lynx pit in the summer of 2024, together with the other components of the URM solution. The goal will be the extraction of approximately 150,000 tonnes of Lynx kimberlite ore.