Described is a deep-sea mining vehicle for taking up mineral deposits from a seabed at great depth, and optionally transporting said deposits to a floating device. The vehicle includes a support frame provided with means for moving the vehicle forward on the seabed, with at least one suction head with an open suction side which is directed toward the seabed and along which the mineral deposits and surrounding water are taken up, and with a temporary storage, connected via a suction conduit to the at least one suction head, for the mineral deposits taken up. The temporary storage includes a container with a front wall, a rear wall, side walls, an upper wall, and a bottom. The temporary storage further includes at the position of the upper wall and connecting to the front wall a first connecting part for the suction conduit, and at substantially the same height and connecting to the rear wall a second connecting part for a discharge conduit for discharge of substantially the sucked-up water. The temporary storage further includes at the position of the bottom and connecting to the interior of the container a third connecting part for a discharge conduit for discharge of substantially the mineral deposits.

The disclosure discloses a solid fluidization tubular separator for marine natural gas hydrate, which includes a first separator and a second separator, wherein the first separator includes the first separation sleeve, the power liquid pipe, the swirl baffle, the recovery mechanism and the sand discharge mechanism. After the hydrate is sucked into the first separation sleeve to generate a circumferential velocity, so that the mud and sand with high density are separated to the pipe wall of the first separation sleeve, and the mud and sand separated to the pipe wall are settled down from the gap between the swirl baffle and the pipe wall along the pipe wall. The hydrate swirl flows into the recovery mechanism, and then leaves the first separation sleeve and enters the second separator, so as to realize the separation of mud and sand and natural gas hydrate.

Described is a deep-sea mining vehicle for taking up mineral deposits from a seabed at great depth, and optionally transporting said deposits to a floating device. The vehicle includes a support frame provided with means for moving the vehicle forward on the seabed, a storage for the mineral deposits taken up, and further a suction head with an open suction side which is directed toward the seabed and along which the mineral deposits are taken up. The deep-sea mining vehicle is further provided with a control device for keeping the height of the suction plane within predetermined limits relative to the seabed. The control device makes use of measuring means for obtaining seabed heights at positions which precede the open suction side relative to the direction of movement and which extend over a width of the deep-sea mining vehicle. An actuator which is incorporated in a control circuit adjusts the height of the suction head on the basis of the seabed heights measured at the positions.

Described is a deep-sea mining vehicle for taking up mineral deposits from a seabed at great depth, and optionally transporting said deposits to a floating device. The vehicle includes a support frame provided with means for moving the vehicle forward on the seabed, a storage for the mineral deposits taken up, and further a suction head with an open suction side which is directed toward the seabed and along which the mineral deposits are taken up. The deep-sea mining vehicle is further provided with a control device for keeping the height of the suction plane within predetermined limits relative to the seabed. The control device makes use of measuring means for obtaining seabed heights at positions which precede the open suction side relative to the direction of movement and which extend over a width of the deep-sea mining vehicle. An actuator which is incorporated in a control circuit adjusts the height of the suction head on the basis of the seabed heights measured at the positions.

Embodiments of the invention provide apparatus and method for seabed resources collection. The apparatus comprises a main module and a plurality of seabed resources collecting devices releasably attached to the main module, wherein the main module and the plurality of collecting devices are configured to be launched from a surface vessel towards a seabed; the main module includes a control module which is configured to determine a mining path for each of the collecting devices based on characteristics of the seabed, control each of the collecting devices to collect seabed resources along the determined mining path and control transfer of the seabed resources collected by the collecting devices, wherein each collecting device is configured to be released from the main module after the apparatus is launched, and to collect seabed resources along the mining path determined by the main module after being released.

Embodiments of the invention provide apparatus and method for seabed resources collection. The apparatus comprises a main module and a plurality of seabed resources collecting devices releasably attached to the main module, wherein the main module and the plurality of collecting devices are configured to be launched from a surface vessel towards a seabed; the main module includes a control module which is configured to determine a mining path for each of the collecting devices based on characteristics of the seabed, control each of the collecting devices to collect seabed resources along the determined mining path and control transfer of the seabed resources collected by the collecting devices, wherein each collecting device is configured to be released from the main module after the apparatus is launched, and to collect seabed resources along the mining path determined by the main module after being released.

A method for recovering rare-earth mud including steps of: (A) penetrating a mud gathering pipe into a layer containing rare-earth mud under the seafloor, (B) preparing a slurry containing a rare earth by loosening rare-earth mud in the mud gathering pipe, and (C) transferring the slurry through a mud raising pipe. A rare-earth mud recovery system including: a mud gathering pipe configured to penetrate into a layer containing rare-earth mud under a seafloor; a stirring device configured to loosen rare-earth mud in the mud gathering pipe; and a mud raising pipe connected to the mud gathering pipe.

Described is a deep-sea mining vehicle for taking up mineral deposits from a seabed at great depth, and optionally transporting said deposits to a floating device. The vehicle includes a support frame provided with means for moving the vehicle forward on the seabed, a storage for the mineral deposits taken up, and further a suction head with an open suction side which is directed toward the seabed and along which the mineral deposits are taken up. The taking up of the mineral deposits and the transport thereof to an outlet, which is connected to a suction conduit leading to the storage, is supported by a gap-like feed opening for water which is connected to an inlet of the suction head and by a pressure chamber for carrying the water at a high exit speed through the feed opening and toward the outlet along an internal wall part which mutually connects the feed opening and the outlet. The wall part is curved such that the distance to the open suction side of the deep-sea mining vehicle decreases from the inlet and then increases again toward the outlet.

The invention relates to a method for processing submerged material at the bottom of a body of water, like the bottom of the sea, by application of electric energy, comprising providing electrodes in a process zone proximate the material for providing an electric current through the material for crushing the material, and displacing of fluid of the body of water away from the process zone to outside the process zone before application of the electric energy.

A vehicle (6) apparatus for removing material from the seabed is disclosed. The vehicle comprises first thrusters (10) for moving the vehicle vertically and second thrusters (12) for moving the vehicle horizontally. A collector unit (16) removes material from the seabed, and a latching mechanism (42) is adapted to be connected to a riser to enable removed material to be transported to a vessel on the surface.