Nautilus positive with progress

NAUTILUS Minerals is pleased with the progress that continues to be made with the construction, trialing and delivery of its seafloor production system.
The system will be used by Nautilus and its partner Eda Kopa (Solwara) Limited at the Solwara 1 project site.
Chief executive Mike Johnston said the company was pleased with the progress so far.
“The system remains on track for initial production during the first half of 2019, subject to further financing as indicated previously,” Johnston said.
Submerged trials of the first of the seafloor production tools, the collecting machine have now been completed at the trial facility at Motukea island in Port Moresby.
The results of the machine trials indicate that the machine could perform to design specifications, and the team is now looking at operating enhancements.
The auxiliary cutter is currently being trialed and this would be followed by the bulk cutter.
“We look forward to reporting on these trials later this year,” Johnston said.
“At the Mawei shipyard, the vessel construction is currently at 70 per cent.
“The assembly of all three SPT launch and recovery systems are progressing well at the shipyard under the supervision of the supplier AXTech. The 200T and 100T ship cranes have been delivered to the shipyard by Macgregor and one of the crane pedestals has already been fitted on to the deck.
“The lift winches and spoolers for the SPT LARS have also been shipped from Korea to the shipyard.”