36 
ment Co., Ltd. (Jamco), which was set up by four Japanese com- 
panies. The agreement is to jointly assess a selected Pacific Ocean 
nodule deposit, scale-up and test mining and processing systems, and 
market-test the products recovered. The marketing program will be 
aimed at the signing of purchasing agreements prior to any commit- 
ment to begin a full-scale, commercial mining operation. Deepsea 
Ventures is to handle the mining and processing. The national groups 
will use proportionate shares of the metals in their respective domestic 
economies or worldwide trade. The total project is expected to cost 
approximately $200 million from development and evaluation through 
commercial operation. It is estimated that as many as 10 mining 
units, each with a capacity of a million tons per year, could be 
operating in the 1980’s.%7 : 
The CLB Group, the third international consortium to be an- 
nounced, also involves U.S. firms. This group, involving more than 25 
major companies in six countries, is a joint effort to develop a $5- 
million CLB system to full production.’® Participants in the CLB 
Group include Nippon and the Sumitomo Industries in Japan, France’s 
Societe Le Nickel and CNEXO, Australia’s Broken Hill Proprietary 
(BHP) steel and oil group, Canada’s International Nickel Co. 
(INCO), Dome Mines, Placer Mining, Teck Corp., Noranda Mines 
Ltd., and Cominco Ltd., and a German combine of Preussag AG, Met- 
allgesellschaft AG and Salzgitter AG. U.S. firms participating include 
Ethyl Corp., Occidental Minerals, Phelps-Dodge, N.L. Industries, 
Superior Oil, Utah International, U.S. Steel, General Crude Oil, and 
Atlantic Richfield Oil. The consortium is managed by Dr. John L. 
Mero, president of Ocean Resources, Inc. of La Jolla, Cunaenes Ac- 
cording to Dr. Mero, “The CLB aim is to get the system running on a 
full production basis to see what the costs and problems are by 1975. 
If everything looks good, then the group would break up and the 
individual companies would go their own ways in mining efforts.”.” 
This type of consortium which will not continue through full-scale 
commercial production is a departure from the other consortia 
arrangements. 
Another international consortium for deep seabed nodule mining 
was recently formed by International Nickel Co. of Canada Ltd. 
(INCO) with its U.S. subsidiary, The International Nickel Co. Inc., 
the West German AMR group consisting of Metallgesellschaft AG, 
Preussag AG, Rheinische Braunkohlenwerke AG, and Salzgitter AG, 
and the Japanese group organized under the name Deep Ocean Min- 
ing Co. Ltd. (DOMCO) which represents six firms from the Sumi- 
tomo combine, Ataka and Co. Ltd., Toyo Menka Kaisha Ltd., Maur- 
beni Corp., Kyokuyo Co. Ltd., Dowa Mining Co. Ltd., Nijyson Mining 
Co. Ltd., Shinko Electric Co., Nissho-Iwai Ltd., Tokyo Rope Manu- 
facturing Co. Ltd., and Mitsui OSK Alliance Ltd.2° Each group will 
have an equal interest in the project. It is also contemplated that the 
. venture will be expanded to afford others the opportunity to partici- 
pate in the project. 
The agreement calls for the parties to proceed with design and de- 
velopment work to determine the economic and technical feasibility 
17 Deep-Ocean Mining Takes a Step Ahead. Ocean Industry, March 1975 2 
ee ee ED Newsletter, vy. 9, No. 12, June 24, 1974, Secor ee 
10. Dp. A. 
*0 Ocean Science News, Apr. 11, 1975, p. 1. 
