Nautilus Minerals Inc. has received final processed data from the electromagnetic survey completed over its Solwara 1 prospect located at 1,700 metres water depth in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea.
David Heydon, Nautilus chief executive officer, commented: “We are pleased with the results of this world-first survey. There is excellent correlation between the EM survey and assay results within the drilled area, as we anticipated in such a high-grade copper system where drilling results regularly assayed better than 10 per cent copper over significant thicknesses. The EM survey indicates good continuity of the conductive massive sulphide in the mineralized zone, suggesting that the mineralization is open to the west, and there are untested anomalies within the survey area requiring drilling.
“With this EM technique in our exploration tool box we will be able to better target future drilling, which will allow us to test future systems more rapidly and cost-effectively, and allow us to build on our current competitive advantages in the world of sea floor resource development.”
Nautilus, together with its shareholder Teck Cominco Ltd., has partnered with the Vancouver-based Ocean Floor Geophysics Inc. to develop, deploy and protect the intellectual property associated with the deep-ocean electromagnetic technology.
Electromagnetic data have long been the geoscientist’s preferred geophysical technique for locating and mapping massive sulphide mineralization beneath the land. Now after solving the problems associated with inducing measurable fields from within the conductive sea-water environment, Nautilus and its partners have shown the electromagnetic method can be used not only by airplane and helicopter over land, but also by remote operated vehicle on the sea floor for the detection of massive sulphide systems.
Qualified person
The exploration results reported in this announcement have been compiled under the supervision of Anthony O’Sullivan, chief operating officer of Nautilus. Mr. O’Sullivan is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has 20 years experience in mining and exploration geology, and is a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. He consents to his name being used in this release.
Electromagnetic survey
These electromagnetic data represent 37 line kilometres acquired over the Solwara 1 site. A further 15 line km acquired over the Solwara 5 prospect are still with the contractor Ocean Floor Geophysics for processing.
Survey parameters
Line spacing: 25 m or 50 m
Line spacing: 25 m or 50 m
Transmitter altitude: nine m (nominal)
Transmitter altitude: nine m (nominal)
Receiver altitude: five m (nominal)
Receiver altitude: five m (nominal)
Survey speed: 0.75 knot (nominal)
Survey speed: 0.75 knot (nominal)
EM system: Ocean Floor Geophysics’ proprietary OFEM system, under patent application
EM system: Ocean Floor Geophysics’ proprietary OFEM system, under patent application
Depth of investigation: less than five m
Depth of investigation: less than five m
Peak response: 5 per cent
Peak response: 5 per cent
