A system for collecting mineral resources on the ocean floor, having an automotive collector for collecting mineral resources, a collection vessel which is connected to the automotive collector so that the collected mineral resources are fed to the collection vessel, and an endless bucket lift device having a number of buckets. The endless bucket lift is lowered from a ship and circulates between the ship and the collection vessel. The circulation of the buckets carries the mineral deposits, collected at the collection vessel, to the ship. The ship has an expansion apparatus having at least a pair of end-rollers on which an endless belt carrying a number of buckets are wound. The distance between the end rollers is adjustable so that the lowering distance of the collection vessel and the automotive collector can be adjusted according to the depth of the seabed.

System for collecting and conveying undersea mineral resources

The arrangement is mainly designed for transporting solid minerals from the floor of the ocean to a support vessel. The arrangement comprises an endless flexible carrier which is made of interconnected container sections. Each section has two chambers -- a load chamber and a float chamber. The arrangement also has means for batched loading of the chambers with solid mineral and compressed gas. During operation of the arrangement, the load chambers are loaded with solid mineral and the float chambers are filled with gas so that the loaded sections of the carrier acquire a positive buoyancy thus enabling displacement of the entire carrier.

Arrangement for transporting solid materials from the bottom of basins

A dredging apparatus comprising a floating device and a frame suspended adjustably therein. The frame supports reversing wheels 1,2 for an endless conveying member 3 provided with blades 4 for loosening and feeding upwards the soil material. The apparatus is further provided with a chute 29 for receiving the material discharged from the members. The endless conveying member 3 comprises a closed endless belt 3 flexible in at least one direction perpendicular to its surface and provided with digging blades or partitions 4 fixed thereon. The frame is provided with a tube 9 open at top and bottom. The upwards running section of the endless belt 3 runs through the tube 9 which encloses the belt 3 with blades 4 with a small clearance. Furthermore, the frame has a part 14 projecting downwards beyond the tube and supporting a reversing wheel 2 for the belt 3. The angle of that part with respect to the vertical is adjustable such that the belt section 22 can engage the bottom at the inlet of tube 9. The downwards running section 18 extends through a tube 17 as well which has its top above water level and to which air may be supplied.

Endless belt dredger

Equipment for harvesting manganese iron modules from the sea bed, uses a dredging type mechanism which is drawn along the sea bed. This discharges into an endless cylindrical section conveyor which then discharges into a vessel floating above. The conveyor has a grid or mesh cylindrical wall (6) divided up into lengths (7) each consisting of a float chamber (9) and a conveying chamber (8). These chambers are separated by a grid (11), and the float chamber contains a hermetic seal (10) with its open end attached to the grid. A remote operated unit fills the chambers with air to give buoyancy to the conveyor as it travels upwards. The seal operates so that the chambers fill with water during downward travel.

Underwater manganese nodules harvesting equipment - uses conveyor with chambers alternating with float chambers, water filled on downwards travel

The invention relates to a mining system comprising; - a vessel for processing mined ore, - an upper platform coupled with the vessel, - a lower platform supported by the ocean floor, - a number of transport cables which extend between the upper and lower platform,and - a container for containing ore which container is fixedly coupled to a container transporting cable such that the container moves vertically with the container transporting cable to transport the container in a container trajectory extending between the upper and lower platform.

Subsea container transport system for deep-sea mining

An underwater mining or dredging apparatus having a supporting vessel and a continuous loop to which is attached a number of containers. In one embodiment, the loop is hollow and has a ballasted fluid in a lower portion while the descending portion is buoyant. This will reduce the likelihood of entanglement of the loop. In another embodiment, a weight sled is used to help gather the underwater aggregates and prevent wear of the loop. The loop may be designed to hydrodynamically resist entanglements and may be disposed laterally relative to the supporting vessel.

Andre M. Rossfelder

Papers

Apparatus for sediment dredging and ocean mineral gathering