• H2020
• Industrial Leadership
• Advanced Materials, Manufacturing & Processing

A Horizon 2020 project focusing on the opening and rehabilitation of underexploited European mineral deposits has successfully completed vital conceptual prototype and associated equipment design plans.

The development sees the €9.2m ‘¡Viable and Alternative Mine Operating System!’, or VAMOS, project mark the completion of the system’s architecture and functional specifications, signalling the end of Work Package 2 (WP2).

The EU consumes between 25-35% of the world’s metal production, whilst EU-based mineral extraction accounts for just 3% of global ore production. VAMOS seeks to address this situation by making possible the extraction of European mineral deposits from inland water-bearing areas. To reach this aim, the partners are developing an innovative system whereby a remotely operated mining vehicle is launched from a waterborne carriage. The underwater mining equipment is operated without any effect on groundwater levels.

Frank Bosman, RDI manager at project partner Damen Dredging Equipment, says that the conclusion of WP2 demonstrated that the partnership behind the project was functioning well. He commented: “There was good co-operation between all partners, ensuring that everything went to schedule and all documentation was submitted to the EU on time. We are now looking forward to Work Package 3 (WP3) with optimism.”

In WP3, the partners will be initially further detailing the system components and will focus on verifying and validating designs. Bosman added: “We will look into the elements supplied by the various partners in order to ensure commonality so each piece can be integrated into the whole.”

VAMOS will test the equipment on four existing mine sites across Europe within the next two years to prove the new submerged inland mining concept.

The research and Innovation action is co-ordinated by the BMT Group in the UK and includes 17 partners from nine EU countries. The project runs until 2018.