TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Prospective seafloor miner Nautilus Minerals has satisfied one of the conditions precedent to releasing $113-million, which its project partner – the Papua New Guinea government – had paid into escrow in May, representing the balance of the State’s 15% share of capital required to complete the Solwara 1 offshore project up to first production.
Nautilus had earlier this year resolved a project funding dispute with Papua New Guinea and signed an agreement with the State’s nominee, Eda Kopa (Solwara), a subsidiary of Petromin PNG Holdings, under which Nautilus agreed to secure certain intellectual property rights and charter a production support vessel.
The company on Wednesday announced that it had now secured the intellectual property rights for Eda Kopa and was focused on chartering the vessel.
“Nautilus is pleased [that] it has satisfied the first of the conditions precedent by securing the intellectual property rights required by the State and is now one step closer to securing the release of the escrowed funds.
“Discussions remain on track with potential vessel partners to obtain a suitable vessel arrangement within the timeframe required under the agreement, which will see the funds released from escrow,” Nautilus CEO Mike Johnston said.
The Canadian company aimed to start digging up a seafloor massive sulphide deposit, Solwara 1, about 1 600 m underwater, off Papua New Guinea, from 2017.
Nautilus planned to use three huge robots, one of which had already been built in Britain and weighed about 310 t. The machines would cut into the seafloor with 4-m-wide claws, break the rock and collect it in a slurry that would be piped to a support vessel.
The remaining water and rock would be sent back down another pipe nearly all the way back to the ocean floor.