This programme has been designed to eventually develop over 7 years, a low volume deep sea-bed mining system capable of working through remote control at a depth of 6000 m. The first phase of the programme is aimed at developing a land based cum shallow basin prototype of a remote operated underwater nodule collector together with a lifting system. The collector will be first tested on land for its fundamental performance and remote operational capability . The lifting system will also be tested on an experimental test set up.

The performance of the combined system will be evaluated in a shallow basin at a depth. of about 10 m.

The conceptualised test system consists of two main modules:

The collector module will be a mobile unit, remotely controlled, which will collect nodules from land or shallow basin. This module primarily will consist of the collector vehicle and the collecting hand.

The lifting module or the vertical transport module will lift the nodules through buckets. This module will consist of a vertical U-pipe, buckets fitted on a continuous chain line and drive system for the chain.

The project is being implemented by the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur as the nodal agency involving various public and private sector organisations in the country , like Bharat Earth Movers Limited, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Engineers India Limited, Metallurgical and Engineering Consultants Ltd., IITs, etc. Most of the equipment will be indigenous while some may have to be imported. Till now, the work relating to polymetallic nodules programme has been carried out entirely through Indian efforts. The project is being periodically monitored at different levels by different competent groups of experts. The Ocean Science and Technology Board (OSTB), the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) and CSIR Steering Group periodically monitor and review the progress of the project. In addition, Engineers India Ltd. (EIL) has been given the task of monitoring and evaluating the progress of work.