System for collecting and conveying undersea mineral resources

A system for collecting mineral resources on the seabed of an ocean floor, comprising:

• an automotive collector for gathering mineral resources on the seabed,
• said automotive collector being movable on the seabed by a remote control from a ship, said automotive collector having first pump means for sucking mineral deposits on the seabed, and
• second pump means for transporting the sucked mineral deposits,
• a collection vessel means, connected to said automotive collector through a tube, for collecting mineral resources gathered by said automotive collector,
• said collection vessel means having a vessel for temporarily storing the gathered mineral resources, and a wheel within said vessel,
• said wheel having an agitator for agitating the mineral deposits fed from said automotive collector,
• said second pump means of the automotive collector feeding the sucked mineral deposits to said collection vessel means,
• an endless bucket lift having an endless belt with a number of buckets attached thereto,
• said endless bucket lift being continuously movable between said collection vessel means and the ship so that mineral resources collected into said collection vessel are continuously fed to the ship by said endless bucket lift, said wheel of the collection vessel means being rotatable along with a movement of said endless bucket lift, and
• an expansion apparatus, provided on the ship, having at least a pair of end rollers,
• at least one of said end rollers being movable toward and away from the other end roller of said end rollers, said endless bucket lift being wound on said end rollers so that said endless bucket lift can travel through said end rollers to and from said collection vessel,
• wherein an effective length of said bucket lift lowered from the ship into the seawater is adjusted in accordance with a depth of the seabed by changing the distance between said end rollers.