The Metals Company is announcing the arrival of a former deep-water drill ship in the Dutch port of Rotterdam, where it will be converted into a deep-sea mining vessel to recover polymetallic nodules from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, Kallanish reports.

The ship, 228 metres in length and able to accommodate up to 200 people, was acquired by strategic partner Swiss-based Allseas Group and has been renamed the Hidden Gem, the Canada-based company says in the announcement.

The companies say they expect the vessel to be operational for pilot module collection tests by mid-2022 in the North Atlantic Ocean. It would be the first vessel to be classified as a subsea mining vessel by the American Bureau of Shipping, the companies say.  No additional details were released about the ship project.

“We are very happy to see the Hidden Gem over here in Europe and to see Allseas making such tremendous progress with her,” says Gerald Barron, chairman and ceo of The Metals Company (formerly DeepGreen Metals). “The vessel has successfully embarked on the dry dock maintenance phase, which bodes well for a smooth and timely conversion in advance of our pilot mining project in 2022.”

The ship will be equipped with collection system and a 4.5-kilometre riser to bring the nodules up to the ship from the seafloor. That system is under construction by the Allseas Group. Factory acceptance testing has started for system components that will be integrated into the vessel.

The companies intend to mine the ocean floor for unattached polymetallic seafloor nodules for electric vehicle batteries with production expected on its Pacific Ocean holdings in 2024. It is planning to mine for high-grade polymetallic nodules containing nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese found on the seafloor in the international waters of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

That area between Hawaii and Mexico is as big as the United States. The nodules in areas held by company subsidiaries could power 280 million EVs or about 25% of the global passenger car fleet and includes 341m short tons of indicated metals and 11m st of inferred metals, the company says. Critics say the plan is untested and the environmental impacts are unknown.