Nautilus Minerals has completed the submerged trials for its seafloor production tools In Papua New Guinea.
The equipment is currently being prepared for shipment to China where it will be integrated onto the production support vessel (PSV) being built for Nautilus’ Solwara 1 subsea mining project.
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.”
The company said that completing the trials in PNG allowed it 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 Nautilus to accrue the economic benefits of the testing activity within PNG.