Nautilus bringing back start-up expert

Wayne Knott has been appointed as Nautilus’ chief operating officer, starting on March 19.
This is as the company moves towards starting its first seafloor mining operations of Solwara 1 project next year – subject to finance being raised.
Knott is a metallurgist with over 30 years of mining industry experience, with particular expertise in dredging, operational start-ups and reviews.
He previously worked for Nautilus Minerals as operations manager during 2010 to 2012, where he was responsible for defining the company’s original operational readiness plan and providing significant input into the design and scope of the current production system.
His previous role was operational-readiness specialist for Hatch, with clients that included BHP, BMA and Teck Resources.
Knott is MBA-qualified, with a bachelor’s degree equivalent in extraction metallurgy.
Nautilus Minerals chief executive Mike Johnston said: “We are delighted to have Wayne back leading our project team.
“Wayne’s expertise in operational start-ups, their design and implementation, combined with his intimate knowledge of our production system, will be invaluable to us as we continue to advance towards completing the build and integration of our system and launch the seafloor resource production industry.”