Okeanus to Provide Winch & LARS Equipment for Deep-Sea Mining Project
Okeanus Science & Technology, LLC (Okeanus), an established marine equipment and engineering service provider, announces they have received a Purchase Order from NiGK Corporation (NiGK) in Japan for the development, manufacture, and delivery of an active heave compensated umbilical winch and skid mounted A-frame style LARS.
The 10-ton winch and LARS will be used from ships of opportunity to deploy a tethered seafloor drill that will obtain core samples of cobalt crust deposits. NiGK will manufacture the drill, provide the umbilical, and topside control vans. The complete system is scheduled to be delivered to the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) early in 2020.
“We have worked with NiGK for a number of years, we are very happy that NiGK was the successful bidder on the JOGMEC and are thankful to be working again with such a honorable customer,” Ted Brockett said.
Cobalt crust deposits are a potential source of cobalt, copper, nickel and other valuable metals currently obtained through land-based mines in locations such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China, Russia, Canada, and Australia. Cobalt is used in the production of alloy steels, batteries for electric vehicles, magnets, and is used in medical devices.
“The system we’re developing addresses the need for cost effective means to acquire seafloor core samples of hard mineral deposits from ships of opportunity,” Ted added. The Okeanus LARS will incorporate features such as telescoping A-frame legs and a docking head assembly incorporating a failsafe latch, rotate function, over-boarding sheave, and motion damping feature that will allow for safe and efficient shipboard deployment and retrieval operations even in relatively high sea states. The Okeanus umbilical winch will be provided with grooved drum covers by LeBus and an Active Heave Compensation (AHC) control system by Scantrol.
About Okeanus Science & Technology
Okeanus Science & Technology, LLC, is a rental, sales and services organization, with in-house equipment manufacturing and engineering capabilities providing the oceanographic and subsea professional with reliable tools to complete projects on time and on budget. With the acquisitions of Sound Ocean Systems, Inc. (founded in 1978) and DT Marine Products, Inc. (founded in 1999), Okeanus is now the industry leader in the design and build of oceanographic winches, handling systems and LARS. Okeanus offers an extensive pool of leased equipment that can be paired with any of its winches and deployed at a moment’s notice. Okeanus rents, sells and services a wide range of deck and subsea equipment from its offices in Houma, LA, Houston TX and Redmond, WA.
About NiGK Corporation
"From the ocean floor to outer space". As the company slogan shows, NiGK Corporation (formerly Nichiyu Giken Kogyo Co., Ltd.), established in 1980 deals with wide range of products related to various business fields from the ocean observation to space exploration. The ocean business division (NiGK OCEAN, formerly ngk ocean) has its origin from the development of acoustic releaser in 1980s and has participated with various Japanese governmental projects and important overseas projects up until today. NiGK develops and provides for scientists, engineers or researchers with mainly observatory machineries like river water level telemetry system, underwater winch, sediment trap, seafloor network system and seafloor drill from its plant Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan.