For centuries treasure hunters have scoured the ocean floor in search of lost booty. Divers have gone searching for Spanish galleons and jewels the world over, but maybe they were looking for the wrong thing.Apparently they should have gone a little deeper and looked for Carbonatites.

One man's belief in natural treasure in the depths of Bermuda's Exclusive Economic Zone, the 200-mile radius around the Island, may have led him to gold.

Fifty-six-year-old Nick Hutchings is the unlikely creator of Ocean Projects Ltd., a company that is working with Government, the shipping industry and the Bermuda Zoological Society to search thousands of metres below sea level for gold, precious minerals and new creatures.

He began his diving career as a summer job when he was 16 and hasn't turned back. Having worked at many of the Island's diving companies and taught thousands of people to dive he decided to enter the world of business later in his life.

The spark that caused this change — a hunch that what was below Bermuda's turquoise waters could be more valuable than anyone ever imagined.

And it all began with a drive to the airport.

In 1989 Mr. Hutchings was asked to take a "well-known US anchor type" to their airport after he had completed a 2,000 metre dive in a submersible vehicle. He expected to hear the man was lyrical about the wonders of the ocean and the amazing creatures at that depth. Instead the man spoke of gold.

He explained to Mr. Hutchings that there appeared to be veins of yellow substance on the seabed which could be gold.

While some would have taken that tip and forgot it Mr. Hutchings mulled it over for a few years before deciding it was time to discover what was down there.

He said: "I thought about it for a number of years and and always said someone should go down there and take a look at it. Then I realised that the someone I was thinking about would have to be me. I made that decision in 1996 and it took almost 10 years for us to get to the seabed and take a look.

"It was a long process. My father is a business man and he explained we would have to get the rights to explore the area and then get people to invest in the company.

"This was a pretty novel idea so it took a while to get the rights from Government. It was an unusual request so they took their time doing the due diligence and make sure it was the right thing for the people of Bermuda.

"We now have an exploratory agreement and exclusive rights to negotiate a mining lease with the Government." "Then we had to get the investors, we did get a few funny looks from people. I think it's fair to say this is not the type of company you invest your pension fund in.

"But I explained to people that on top of the monetary results of what we found we would also be doing good scientific research."

Along the way Mr. Hutchings had to become a bit of a geology expert so he could explain what exactly they were looking for.

Last year the company started to see the results of the decade long process. A team of scientists aboard the cable ship — which usually spends its time docked in Dockyard — used a remotely operated vehicle to explore 2,200 feet below the ocean surface.

What they found were Carbonatites, a rare lava which is found in some of the largest metal ore deposits around the world. Mr. Hutchings said Carbonatites can contain minerals such as diamonds and gold. This discovery could yield millions if not billions he explained because places such as Palabora, South Africa — one of the largest copper mines — contains Carbonatites which have resulted in the extraction billions of dollars worth of copper.

All this has given investors something to smile about, but they are still at the beginning stages. Despite creating a company that could one day create fast fortunes Mr. Hutchings is still a dive master at heart and concerned about marine life.

As well as searching for Carbonatites and other minerals which could reap millions the scientist collected 115 marine life samples — two of which were unknown in the science world! Many others were not known to be in Bermuda's waters.

Already the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute has a display available of some of the items collected from the deep sea dive.

But Mr. Hutchings shrugged off the suggestion that this was unique for a business man to care about the environment.

He said: "I figure either way we should know what is down there. It is a part of our country, those 200 miles of ocean surrounding us, so we should try and find out more about it.

"For a person like me it's in my nature to explore."