深海用ボーリングシステムの開発・導入・運用 Development and Operation of Deep-Sea Boring Machine System by Operating Group on the Deep-sea Boring Machine System

The Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), which is the former Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ), has developed the deep-sea Boring Machine System (BMS) to detect vertical distributions of hydrothermal deposits and cobalt-rich manganese crusts for better understanding of the occurrence of deep-sea mineral resources.From 1999, the BMS, a unique cabled remote control submarine multi corer, was installed on the R/V Hakurei-maru No.2 and utilized for the deep-sea mineral exploration. Since then, continuous improvement of the BMS and systematic operation with other survey equipment by the engineers of JOGMEC, Deep Ocean Resources Development Co., Ltd., (DORD) and Ocean Engineering & Development Co., Ltd., (OED) has achieved remarkable progress of submarine exploration technologies, which will contribute to estimate ore reserves of deep-sea minerals deposits as well as to accumulate scientific knowledge.The role of the BMS will become more important, because it is supposed to be the only one sampling device in the world that can recover in-situ samples, which is indispensable for an effective application of expansion of Japanese continental shelf to the UN.