Key points
- The study will estimate capital and operating costs to mine, lift, dewater and deliver ore to vessels for shipment to an onshore concentration facility.
- It will consider an initial production rate of one million tonnes per year, with capacity to double to two million tonnes per year.
- Solwara 1 sits in EL 1196 in the Bismarck Sea at a water depth of 1,600 metres in Papua New Guinea’s territorial waters.
- A 1,300-metre zone at Solwara has been defined from 88 sea floor samples, averaging 15.5 grams per tonne gold and 10.1 per cent copper.
Nautilus Minerals Inc. has retained Technip, a world-class player in engineering, technologies and construction services for offshore and onshore oil and gas industries, to complete a prefront-end engineering design study of the offshore components of a development on its Solwara 1 prospect in EL 1196 in the Bismarck Sea within the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea. The study will examine the production process and estimate the capital and operating costs required to mine, lift, dewater and deliver ore into vessels for shipment to an onshore mineral concentration facility. It will consider a development with an initial production rate of one million tonnes per year with the capacity to double to two million tonnes per year and it is anticipated that the study will be completed by September.
Nautilus chief executive officer, David Heydon, commented that: “This study will provide key information to the market to understanding of the value of the Solwara 1 prospect and will provide the framework for subsequent detailed engineering studies. We look forward to working with Technip who are one of the leading offshore engineering and construction companies.”
Nautilus is the first company to commercially explore the ocean floor for gold and copper sea floor massive sulphide deposits and is positioned to become a world leader in underwater mineral exploration. The company’s main focus for 2006 is the Solwara project, where a 1,300-metre zone 80 to 200 metres wide averaging 15.5 grams per tonne Au and 10.1 per cent Cu has been defined from 88 sea floor samples. Solwara 1 is located in water depths of 1,600 metres in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean.
