Name and Location
Solwara 1 seafloor copper/gold project, Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Client
Prospective marine miner Nautilus Minerals formed a joint venture (JV) company with PNG’s nominee, Eda Kopa (Solwara), in December 2014 to mine high-grade polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits.

Nautilus formed the JV after receiving $113-million that had been placed into escrow in May of that year, after completing the sale of 15% of its Solwara 1 project to Eda Kopa.

Project Description
Nautilus Minerals is pioneering the concept of mining the ocean bed for copper, gold, zinc and silver.

The company is exploring for high-grade polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits at 1 600 m below the surface of the Bismarck Sea, off the coast of PNG, within the Western Pacific Ocean’s Rim of Fire. The operation aims to produce ore at a rate of more than 1.3-million tons a year, with the capacity to ultimately ramp up to 1.8-million tons a year of dewatered ore, which will be delivered to the Port of Rabaul.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
The total capital cost for the system to deliver dewatered ore on board barges to the Port of Rabaul, including a 17.5% contingency, is estimated at $383-million.

The operating cost, excluding contingency, is estimated at $237 000/d, or about $64/t of mined ore, transported to the port based on a production rate of 1.35-million tons a year. Allowing for a 10% contingency, these operating costs become $261 000/d, or about $70/t.

Duration
The Canadian company aims to start digging up a SMS deposit from 2017.

Latest Developments
A British engineering firm has successfully completed factory acceptance testing of the umbilical winches for three seafloor production tools (SPTs) for the Solwara 1 project.

UK-based Soil Machine Dynamics has designed and built the umbilical winches, based on standard oil and gas industry technology currently in use worldwide in deep-water construction and related activities.

The umbilical cables that will be installed in the winches are designed and adapted for Nautilus’s use by German firm Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke.

“Completion of factory acceptance testing on the umbilical winches marks another significant step in the journey towards seafloor mining in 2018. The winches are now ready for the installation of the umbilical cable,” Nautilus CEO Mike Johnston has said.

Once this task has been completed later this year, the winches will be dispatched to Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding, based in Fujian province, in south-eastern China, where the company’s charter vessel is being designed and built for integration into the vessel.

The Solwara 1 winches weigh about 85 t each and will be used to manage the feed-out and recovery of the SPT umbilicals. There is one winch per SPT. The winches store 2 500 m of armoured umbilical, with the umbilical providing the power and control systems for the SPTs through copper wire and fibre-optic cables embedded within the armoured casing.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Soil Machine Dynamics (construction and supply of two remote-operated SMTs); Technip (engineering, procurement and construction management services for the RALS components of the deep-water Solwara 1 mining and extraction system, comprising subsea pumps, a riser pipe, a riser handling system and associated deck equipment); North Sea Shipping Holding (supply of a specialist marine support vessel); Harren & Partner (supply of a platform supply vessel); GE Oil & Gas (supply of a subsea slurry lift and pump); SRK Consulting, Ausenco, Clough Engineering and Mineralurgy (offshore production system definition and cost study); Golder Associates (mineral resource estimate); Parsons Brinckerhoff (dewatering study); and Pells Sullivan Meynink (geotechnical laboratory testing programme and on-board ship laboratory, advice on rock mass and material parameters, as well as slope-stability analysis for mining).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Nautilus Minerals investor relations and communications VP Joe Dowling, tel +61 7 3318 5544 or email jjd@nautilusminerals.com.
Soil Machine Dynamics, tel +44 191 234 2222, fax +44 191 234 0444 or email info@smd.co.uk.
Technip, tel +33 1 47 78 24 00.
North Sea Shipping Holding, tel +47 55 08 88 00.
Harren & Partner, tel +49 421 46 86 0 or fax +49 421 46 86 586.
GE Oil & Gas, tel +1 203 373 2211.
SRK Consulting, tel +1 604 681 4196, fax +1 604 687 5532 or email info@srk.com.
Ausenco, tel +675 3256 033 or fax +675 3250 091.
Clough Engineering, tel +61 8 9281 9281, fax +61 8 9281 9943 or email clough@clough.com.au.
Mineralurgy, tel +61 7 3381 9295.