Nautilus is the first company to commercially explore the seafloor for massive sulphide systems, a potential source of high grade copper, gold, zinc and silver. The trial furthers the company’s efforts to develop a production system using existing technologies adapted from the offshore oil and gas industry, dredging and mining industries to enable the extraction of high-grade seafloor massive sulphide systems on a commercial scale.
Mike Johnston, Nautilus’ CEO commented “The overarching objective of the trials was to ensure that all three machines met the requirements of their respective functional design specifications in submerged conditions. Results to date indicate that they do. Analysis is ongoing with a view to complete a full report on the submerged trials by the end of Q1 2018.”
Completing the trials in PNG allowed Nautilus to work closely with its partner Petromin, government officers from the various government regulatory agencies, as well as representatives from Provincial Governments of New Ireland and East New Britain. It also gave community leaders from coastal villages geographically closest to the Solwara 1 site the opportunity to witness the trials of the equipment, and allowed the company to accrue the economic benefits of the testing activity within PNG.
The equipment is currently being prepared for shipment to China where it will be integrated onto the vessel. For more information, click here.
