TMC the metals company Inc. announced that it has successfully collected an initial batch of seafloor polymetallic nodules, and transported them up a 4km-long riser system to the surface, in what represents the first integrated system test conducted in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean since the 1970s. Having successfully completed at-sea construction of the riser system and its integration with the flexible jumper hose and pilot nodule collector vehicle, the dedicated team of 130 crew and engineers aboard the Hidden Gem commenced initial nodule collection runs, driving the pilot collector 147 meters in one hour on a pre-determined path and collecting 14 tonnes of nodules. From inside the collector nodules were channeled to the jumper hose and into the riser where they were lifted on compressed air in a 12-minute-trip from seafloor to the Hidden Gem, where the return water was discharged to the midwater column at depth.

To date on the current campaign the collector vehicle has successfully been test-driven approximately 18.1km within NORI-D. Meanwhile, aboard a dedicated 103-meter-long monitoring vessel, expert industry contractors and independent scientists from leading research institutions from around the world are conducting a complex monitoring program to assess the environmental impacts of the collector system trials using an array of over 50 subsea sensors and monitoring stations. The assets are designed to record any changes in the marine environment that may occur during testing of the collector system. The state-of the-art technology that TMC subsidiary NORI has applied to this monitoring effort includes over 20 strategically positioned sediment collection stations; acoustic moorings and landers to measure sound propagation; two Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) conducting underwater mapping; two Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) collecting water samples in the plume; optical backscatter and laser diffraction sensors to measure sediment particle settling velocity; trace metal samplers; seven fixed landers equipped with Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) and conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) sensors. NORI expects the findings from the data being collected will be published in scientific literature next year.