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Business |
Nautilus to get exploration gears
from Canyon
By BAEAU TAI
NAUTILUS Minerals Inc has contracted
Canyon Offshore to provide the vessel, a remote operated vehicle (ROV),
and drilling equipment for a major exploration, evaluation
drilling and environmental base line study programME, starting
March, over its Solwara projects in Papua New Guinea.
Canyon Offshore is a member of the Helix Group and a leading
service provider to the offshore oil and gas and
telecommunications industries.
The programme, which will involve between 160 and 210 days on the
water, will commence with environmental baseline studies at the
company’s Solwara 1 prospect before moving to geophysical target
generation throughout the Bismarck and Solomon Seas where the
company will target further mineralised systems.
Following this work, drilling is planned to commence on the
Solwara 1 prospect in early June to generate information for mine
planning purposes. This drilling will utilise two ROV drill units
currently being built by Perry Slingsby Systems Inc under contract
to Canyon Offshore.
In an announcement last Friday, company president David Heydon
said: “We are very excited about the extensive work programme that
we have planned for this year which will significantly advance
Nautilus towards our goal of being the first company to produce
copper, zinc and gold from seafloor massive sulphide deposits.”
This work programme is aimed at completing the drilling and
environmental studies required, subject to PNG Government
approval, to develop the Solwara 1 prospect.
“We will also focus on the discovery of further mineralised
systems within our extensive ground holdings in both the Bismarck
and Solomon Seas,” Mr Heydon said.
The company also has plans to float on the London Stock Exchange.
Teck Cominco Ltd, Anglo American PLC and Barrick Gold are
significant shareholders and with a plus-US$100 million (K313
million) in cash.
However, company gave no details of the amount of capital it plans
to raise.
It is expected that dealings will start in the company’s shares on
January 31, 2007.
The company’s nominated adviser and broker is Numis Securities.
Nautilus is the first company to commercially explore the ocean
floor for gold-copper-zinc-silver seafloor massive sulphide (SMS)
deposits. Environmental permitting is underway and one of the
word’s leading dredging companies, Belgium’s Jan De Nul, will
build a specialised US$120 million (K375 million) deep-sea mining
vessel for the Solwara project.
 
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