DELIVERY TEAM
Nautilus Minerals Inc. has made four senior management appointments to its Solwara 1 project development team.
The new team has significant experience in mine development, project management, deep-sea robotics, seabed mining and maritime commercial support which provides Nautilus with the in-house management to develop the two-million-tonne-per-year Solwara 1 copper-gold project in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea.
Ken Adams has been appointed project manager offshore having joined Nautilus from world deepwater subsea intervention experts Canyon Offshore, a subsidiary of Helix Energy Solutions, where Mr. Adams was vice-president for Europe and Africa. With over 20 years of experience in the offshore sector in subsea robotics and the project management of deepwater projects, Mr. Adams is ideally suited to lead the offshore components of Nautilus’s Solwara 1 project. Mr. Adams’s early background in deepwater electronics, and the design, build and operations of subsea robotic equipment will bring experience to one of the major technical focuses of Nautilus — the subsea mining equipment. Mr. Adams was previously the project manager for a major subsea drill cuttings removal project and so brings valuable experience to Nautilus in the area of lifting ore material to the surface.
Steve McLay has been appointed project manager onshore with responsibility for the delivery of the onshore concentrator plant. He has about 30 years experience in the mining and infrastructure sector. Mr. McLay was recently project manager for a major plus $700-million contract for a coal port upgrade and has had long-term experience in mine construction and operations for Mount Isa mines. In his early career, Mr. McLay had specific copper concentrate experience. Of particular note, Mr. McLay has recent experience in risk management on major capital projects with values in excess of $3-billion.
Mike Frazer takes on the role of marine operations manager for Nautilus, providing input to both Nautilus’s continuing exploration activities and the marine aspects of development of the Solwara 1 project. Mr. Frazer has most recently assisted De Beers Marine South Africa during the commissioning of its new 260-tonne subsea “crawlers” and associated mining equipment that supports the largest mining vessel in the offshore mining industry, the 176-metre MV Peace in Africa.
Mr. Frazer has more than a decade of offshore mining experience specializing in seabed excavation, having joined Namibian Minerals Corp. (Namco) to help develop the crawler-based seabed mining technology on board the pioneer vessel, MV Kovambo. Moving to De Beers Marine Namibia, Mr. Frazer then served in operational and technical management roles supporting the MV Ya Toivio, at the time the largest offshore mining vessel with a 230-tonne crawler-based seabed mining system.
Harvey Askew, appointed as contracts manager, has experience in the legal services and commercial sectors both in the onshore and offshore construction industries. With a background in contracts negotiation, dispute settlement, marine construction, vessel chartering and capital investment in marine plant, Mr. Askew brings an excellent blend of commercial and contractual skills to the team.
Steve Rogers, Nautilus’s chief development officer, commented: “Many of the techniques we will be using at Solwara 1, such as remote-operated seabed mining tools, were pioneered in the offshore sector and later adapted by the diamond industry. To have attracted the calibre and experience of these managers to Nautilus highlights the international interest in our project and its potential to spawn a new industry.”
David Heydon, Nautilus’s president and chief executive officer, added: “Steve Rogers as chief development officer is overseeing a strong team to develop the Solwara 1 project. Steve joined Nautilus from Clough Ltd., one of Australia’s largest multidisciplinary engineering and construction firms, where he has been CEO for oil and gas for the last 18 months. He has 30 years of experience in project and corporate management and has extensive deepwater offshore and onshore project development experience.
“Prior to June, 2003, he was regional managing director Oceania based in Australia for Technip, Europe’s leading oil and gas services group with a work force of 21,000 and a global turnover of 5.4 billion euros. Technip acquired Coflexip Stena Offshore in early 2002 and Steve had at that time been the managing director and executive vice-president for the Middle East and Asia Pacific operations of Coflexip, a leading innovative subsea and deepwater technology group.
“Over the last 15 years, Steve has worked at the steering committee and project director level on capital-intensive projects with values in excess of $1-billion (U.S.). Achievements in this time have included delivering consistent profitability, leading several alliance partnerships in major turnkey contracts and leading fast-track projects to a completion within time and budget.”
