Key points
- The cruise uses Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s research vessel Melville along with WHOI’s ROV Jason and autonomous benthic explorer ABE.
- The first 10 days will map and sample mineralized areas on the Solwara 2 prospect within exploration lease EL 1383.
- The remaining 32 days will cover hydrothermal systems and plume sampling within EL 1196 and EL 1374.
- The Geological Survey PNG, University of PNG and CSIRO are participants, with funding from Nautilus, the U.S. National Science Foundation, WHOI and the respective research agencies.
Nautilus Minerals Inc. has entered into a collaborative agreement with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the world’s largest private, non-profit ocean research, engineering and education organization, to undertake joint exploration and scientific research within the company’s exploration leases in the Bismarck Sea in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea. The 42-day cruise to investigate both active and extinct sulphide deposits, using Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s research vessel Melville, will commence on July 21 and deploy the WHOI deep submergence laboratory remote operated vehicle (ROV) Jason and the autonomous benthic explorer (ABE). This combination will provide for an integrated sea floor mapping and sampling program gathering samples using Jason along with high-resolution mapping and imaging using ABE.
The initial 10 days of the cruise will be focused on mapping and sampling mineralized areas discovered on previous marine scientific cruises on the Solwara 2 prospect in EL 1383. The following 32-day program will involve further mapping, rock and fluid sampling of known sea floor hydrothermal systems within EL 1196 and EL 1374 as well as hydrothermal plume sampling aimed at identifying further mineralized systems.
This work expects to delineate the size and surface grades of further mineralized systems, as well as significantly advance the scientific understanding of these systems, by delineating the tectonic and structural controls on and constrain the geochemical processes responsible for the formation of these systems. This will assist in the formulation of better exploration models for these massive sulphide deposits both in ancient system on land and modern systems on the sea floor.
The Geological Survey PNG, the University of PNG and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) will be active participants in the science program, which is financed by Nautilus, the U.S. National Science Foundation, WHOI and the respective research agencies.
Nautilus chief executive officer David Heydon commented that: “This is an excellent example of collaboration between scientific organisations, industry and government aimed at promoting our understanding of the sea floor and the mineralized systems that form on it. From this work we expect to better understand the nature of, distribution, size, grade and manner of formation of sea floor massive sulphide deposits and to use this information to promote the discovery and evaluation of these systems within our leases and elsewhere.”
