Nautilus to train local people

TRAINING Papua New Guineans in deep sea mining and exploration will be the focus of Nautilus Minerals, the Canadian-based deep sea mining company.
Senior company officials revealed this during a briefing with the company executives and the Madang provincial government last Tuesday.
Environmental manager of the company Dr Samantha Smith said the company had a training programme in place and was now focused on training as many Papua New Guineans as possible so they were equipped with the knowledge and skills in sea bed mining.
Dr Smith said the number of employees now working with the company were all graduates, who were then sent for training in Queensland, Australia, through the company’s training programmes on a regular basis.
She said there would be nine Papua New Guineans involved in the PNG and the Solomon Islands exploration exercises, which were expected to start anytime.
She said many of the employees were involved in the sea floor explorations in Tonga and they would also be involved in the Solomon Islands exploration.
Dr Smith said the company would also be providing on-the-job training for them and then send them overseas for further training.
She said one of the Papua New Guineans was among the nine employees to be sent to a leading university in the United States after wining a scholarship offered by the company.
Dr Smith said William Saleu, during study period, learnt a lot of things and also developed techniques in the sea floor mining which was a bonus for the company.
It is understood that some of the Papua New Guineans, including Saleu, will board the mv Fugro Solstics, the exploration vessel in Madang while another batch is expected to join them in Rabaul when it calls in to refill before heading to Woodlark and then to the Solomon Islands.
The programme runs for 90 days.