187 
Mr. Downtna. Have you detected any gold in this operation ¢ 
Mr. Furese. The gold appears in the nodules at about the same level 
as it does in a solution in the ocean which appears presently to be 
uneconomic to recover. It is a very, very small percentage. 
Mr. Downtne. There is probably no feasibility to obtaining gold. 
Mr. Fires. No. Although it appears that it might be feasible to 
recover the silver. It would not pay, at present, based on our deter- 
minations, to look for the gold. 
Mr. Downine. Does Deepsea intend to go into the processing of 
these minerals? 
_ Mr. Fuipsr. Deepsea is developing the technology for the process- 
ing. It is our business objective to develop this technology and make 
it available to our parent company and to others that would form a 
consortium to actually exploit it, but the answer to your question, 
sir, 1S yes, we are attempting to develop the processing technology. 
Mr. Downtne. Do you have any governmental aid ¢ 
Mr. Fiirsr. The only governmental aid, sir, is that we are currently 
a losing part of the Tenneco family and so whatever tax relief they 
get is the only form of aid. 
Mr. Downtne. Of course, you have Government cooperation 
Mr. Fuirsr. We have had excellent cooperation from the Office of 
Naval Research Group. We have done a good deal of work with the 
Bureau of Mines’ team that is working in the same area and we hope 
we are keeping the State Department and the other interested govern- 
mental agencies informed so that there will be a full understanding 
of our program. 
Mr. Downina. I want to thank you for a most interesting presenta- 
tion. 
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 
Mr. Lennon. Thank you, Mr. Downing. 
Mr. Pelly, you were not privileged to hear this fine statement and 
to view the scenes that we saw related to the statement. 
Mr. Penny. Mr. Chairman, I had to appear before the Tariff Com- 
mission at 10 o’clock this morning. I realized that we were going to 
be favored with a witness that I would have very much liked to have 
heard. 
I want you to recognize that it was only because I couldn’t make it 
that I didn’t get here sooner to listen to you, Mr. Flipse. T had hoped 
that maybe you would have a prepared statement and I could catch 
up later. 
Mr. Fuiese. We will submit a prepared statement. T regret that we 
did not have enough notice to prepare this beforehand but we will 
submit one as soon as possible, sir. 
(The statement follows :) 
SPATRMENT or JomNn E. Friese, Prestpenr, Deepsta VENTURES, ING. 
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, my name is John fi. Flipse. T 
am president of Deepsea Ventures, Inc., a subsidiary of Tenneco Inc. In com- 
menting on the Stratton Report, it seems appropriate that I concentrate on what 
one corporation is doing in the deep ocean for its long-run economic gain. T will 
describe our work in the ocean at depths of 1,000 meters and more where we 
are developing the technology to recover deep ocean manganese nodules con- 
taining economic quantities of nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese. I will also: 
