Moscow State Mining University (Moscow, Russia):

Kirichenko Yu. V., Professor, Doctor of Engineeering Sciences, e-mail: galperin_a@mail.ru

During the last 50 years, the growth of interest to mineral resources of the World ocean is reasonable. A great attention (taking into account technological effectiveness and content of valuable components) is paid both to placer deposits within shelf, and to ferrimanganese formations of sea bottom, which are laid on the depths to 6000 m. At the first place, these placers include ferrimanganese concretions and ferrimanganese crusts – solid (consolidated) ore cumulations with capacity to 250 mm, which are characterized by increased content of cobalt. During the extraction of concretions or crusts, the most complex operation is lifting of mineral on the surface to transport ship or concentration plant. According to this, idea of self-maintained lifting of concretions by giving them positive buoyancy, is interesting. Taking into account the foregoing, application of self-moving underwater unit is offered as special technology of development of residual sea deposits of solid mineral resources (concretions and crusts). This unit consists of two parts (carriages):
-frontal carriage is leading with two wheel pairs and rotation unit;
-back carriage is equipped with energy unit, reservoirs with pressure-sensitive expanding foam and remote consoles for purification of surface of ore formations from bottom mud and application of foam on them.
Detail processing of units, equipment, mechanisms, foam composition, etc. is possible only with creation of specialized scientific-research center of mastering of resources of the World ocean, according to the principle of the center, which functioned in Moscow State Mining University at the end of XX century.

1. Galperin A. M., Kutepov Yu. I., Kirichenko Yu. I. et al. Osvoenie tekhnogennykh massivov na gornykh predpriyatiyakh (Mastering of anthropogenic massifs at mine enterprises). Moscow : Gornaya Kniga, 2012, 333 p.
2. Kozlovskiy E. A., Malyutin Yu. S. Mirovoy okean kak rezerv mineralnogo syrya v XXI veke (World ocean as a reserve of mineral resources in XXI century).
3. Kompleksnoe osvoenie nedr: perspektivy rasshireniya mineralno-syrevoy bazy Rossii (Complex mastering of subsoils: prospects of expanding of Russian mineral-resource base). Under the editorship of K. N. Trubetskoy, V. A. Chanturiya and D. R. Kaplunov. Moscow, 2009, 496 p.
4. Kirichenko Yu. V., Shchekina M. V. Osvoenie resursov Mirovogo okeana — osnova natsionalnoy bezopasnosti Rossii (sovremennoe sostoyanie i puti resheniya) (Mastering of resources of the World ocean — basis of Russian national safety (modern status and ways of solving)). Sbornik dokladov VI sezda gidromekhanizatorov Rossii (Collection of reports of the VI congress of Russian geomechinizers). Moscow : Center of innovation technologies, 2012, pp. 101–110.