Key points
- The 2010 program will focus on improving resource and geotechnical understanding at Solwara 1 and scout drilling at other prospects on the company’s 100-per-cent-owned tenements in the Bismarck Sea.
- TSMarine will provide the vessel, operating crew, remotely operated vehicles and drilling equipment for the project.
- The ROVdrill3 is a second-generation seafloor drilling system designed to wireline diamond drill 70-millimetre diameter core to a hole depth of up to 80 metres.
- CEO Steve Rogers said the ROVdrill3 will let Nautilus further test the resource potential of its seafloor massive sulphide systems and help optimize equipment design and extend the production plan at Solwara 1.
Nautilus Minerals Inc. has commenced its 2010 drilling program with the departure of the vessel REM Etive from Singapore, bound for the company’s Solwara projects in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea.
The 2010 drilling program will focus on improving the resource and geotechnical understanding at Solwara 1, as well as scout drilling at other prospects on the company’s 100-per-cent-owned tenements in the Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea. TSMarine will provide the vessel, operating crew, remotely operated vehicles (ROV) and drilling equipment required for the project. The ROVdrill3 drilling system to be used is a second-generation sea floor drilling system, with the design ability to wireline diamond drill 70-millimetre diameter core to a hole depth of up to 80 metres.
Nautilus’s chief executive officer, Steve Rogers, commented: “The ROVdrill3 gives Nautilus the capability to further test the resource potential of our sea floor massive sulphide systems in the Bismarck Sea. The drilling equipment will also collect geotechnical data that is expected to allow us to further optimize equipment design and extend the production plan at Solwara 1.”
