19 
Motion of 
Vessel 
——Sea Level 
Front View 
Scale: 
1"= 3000! 
Plan View 
Scale: 1"= 4500! 
Dredge 
Cable 
Dredge 
_s Cable o 
Mining 
Limits 
Per Cut ¢ 
Side View 
Scale: 1"=3000 
Only Buckets 
Near Ocean. ~ 
Floor Shown 
Le Te 
sii Floor 
Cable Diameter and Buckets Not Drawn To Scale 
=~ 
Figure 10.—Schematic drawing illustrating the design and operation of the 
Continuous Line Bucket System for mining deep ocean nodule deposits as pro- 
posed by Yoshio Masuda. A successful pilot test of this system was conducted 
in over 12,000 ft. (3,650 m) of water north of Tahiti in the summer of 1970. 
Source: Mero, op. cit., p. 199. 
The CLB system is the method in which there is the greatest amount 
of international participation. One of the largest ventures formed is 
a mining consortium called the CLB Group.*? The CLB Group is a 
joint systems development effort involving more than 25 major com- 
panies in six countries and is managed by Dr. John L. Mero, presi- 
dent of Ocean Resources, Inc. of La Jolla, California. This con- 
sortium only intends to develop and test jointly the CLB system, then 
split up for commercial operations. 
10 Oceanography Newsletter, v. 9, No. 12, June 24, 1974, pp. 1-2. 
