TMC and Kongsberg Digital are developing the digital twin to help TMC understand the environmental impacts of its operations on the seabed.

A new phase of the project will see the addition of additional data streams to the Digital Twin, including data from sensors on the seabed and from remotely operated vehicles. This data will be used to train AI models to determine the key outcomes of TMC's operations, such as the environmental impacts of robotic collectors operating on the seafloor.

The 3D visualization of deep-sea operations will be made available to stakeholders.

Gerard Barron, Chairman and chief executive of The Metals Company, said: "The Digital Twin and AMS will bring unprecedented visibility to our NORI-D nodule project, enabling the regulator and stakeholders to see exactly what we are doing, and when and where we're doing it. This is the world's first digital twin for subsea nodule collection and in the future, when combined with our AMS, there is potential for this system to enable operational optimization and transparency across other projects, whether in the deep sea or on land. This is a mission-critical system for us, and we could not have chosen a better, more experienced partner than Kongsberg Digital, who proved during test mining last year that they are well up to the task."

Andy Jones, Chief Technology Officer for The Metals Company, said: "The hybrid machine learning capability enabled by Kongsberg Digital's Kognitwin is important to our future deep-sea operations and environmental monitoring as it provides us with the proven accuracy and reliability of physics-based modelling combined with data-driven models for near real-time predictions and optimizations.

"This AI-driven approach will enable continuous learning and adaptation and enable us to test ‘what-if' scenarios, allowing NORI to optimizse for efficient operations while minimizing environmental impacts."

The Metals Company and Kongsberg Digital expect to complete the development of the Digital Twin in 2023. The system will then be used to support the operation of TMC's NORI-D nodule project, which is expected to start production in 2025.