KAYSVILLE — Looking for sunken treasure, oil and land mines — it sounds like something out of a Clive Cussler novel — but for local business H3 Tec, it’s all in a day’s work.

The company, based in the entrepreneurial center near the DATC, has developed a device that can be used to search for all these things, and demand is growing.

“Our clientele is unique,” said CEO/creator Charles Christensen. “We have miners, professional salvors and hobbyists. We’ve found three Spanish Galleons and we’re going to Kenya to train the police there in finding explosives.”

Christensen said he was consulting for World Com and had a contract at the Pentagon. “When I went to Walter Reed in 1991 I had never seen those kind of injuries (caused to soldiers by IEDs),” he recalled. “That isn’t the way to find those. I studied and read, and I thought with my degrees in mechanical engineering and computer engineering I could find a device to detect explosives.”

However, Christensen said the military wanted control of his invention, and he didn’t want to give them his product.

“Years passed, and a friend of mine had a son going into the military,” he said. “He took a couple of units with him, but we have nothing formal yet.”

The local operation is small, with a factory in Ogden. But Christensen said they have a factory in India as well. They have expanded with three district representatives in the United States, Iowa, Texas and San Diego.

“We’ve won some Best in State awards and we continue to develop it as people see the good it can do,” he said. “We’ve had offers from big companies but we want to maintain control ourselves.”

Christensen said his goal is to get one of his units on a satellite and map out a battlefield so soldiers will know where the harm is and be able to tag them all (IEDs).

He said they are using the H3 Tec units in Kuwait and Afghanistan right now. Christensen knows of one man who goes to New York to scan for nuclear products. They have even started detecting methamphetamine, (where it is being cooked) he said.

“This is a pain in the rear end for a lot of folks.”

Christensen believes the H3 Tec has many applications that could have a big impact on the world. The group does training at the center.

“Training is mandatory for people who buy our equipment,” he said. “It’s a two-day class, and when they leave they can actually use the thing.”

Christensen said it has been an exciting journey.

“We’ve learned a lot of history,” he said. “We’re working awfully hard and having a lot of fun.”

But it hasn’t been without sacrifice. Christensen said he has invested $3.5 million of his own money into the invention.

“The most difficult thing is sustainment,” he said. “We’re working about 20-hour days, seven days a week. It’s a crazy business — there’s nothing like it. But I’m in it until I’m done.”