The Ural State Mining University and the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard have agreed to develop technologies for mining in flooded mines. These will include floating and submersible platforms, as well as unmanned submarines.
The Nizhny Novgorod plant will be responsible for the submarine's design. The Ural University will develop the internal elements and engineering solutions for mining in flooded mines.
Russia does not yet have new underwater technologies for breaking and processing solids. However, USMU has been working since 2023 on a technology that will allow mining in flooded mines and quarries. Specialists from the recently opened High School of Mining Engineers at USMU will also be able to join the process.
Work on this project will be carried out under the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia's Priority 2030 program (national project "Science and Universities"). Such technologies are very important for the technological and industrial sovereignty of Russia.
Statistics on underground mining operations show that in world practice, by the beginning of the 2020s, almost a third of open-pit and underground mines were flooded along with unworked reserves. This process is especially evident for the Ural region. The Verkhnekamsk deposit has lost more than half of its mines due to flooding. More than 120 mines producing copper, gold, and polymetals have been flooded without completion of mining.
The work on mining minerals underground and underwater is planned to be entrusted to artificial intelligence. It will be able to analyze processes, warn of dangers, and calculate the best solutions for mining.