Key points
- Wayne Knott becomes Nautilus Minerals’ chief operating officer starting March 19, 2018.
- Knott previously served as Nautilus’s operations manager from 2010 to 2012 and most recently worked as an operational readiness specialist for Hatch, with clients including BHP, BMA and Teck Resources.
- Nautilus holds the first mining lease granted for seafloor massive sulphide deposits, at the Solwara 1 site in Papua New Guinea territorial waters, and has been granted its environmental permit for that site.
- Nautilus is targeting the start of its first seafloor mining operations in Papua New Guinea in 2019, subject to financing being raised.
Nautilus Minerals Inc. has appointed Wayne Knott to the role of chief operating officer, commencing March 19, 2018, as it moves toward starting its first seafloor mining operations in Papua New Guinea in 2019. (Subject to financing being raised.)
Mr. Knott is a metallurgist with over 30 years of mining industry experience, with particular expertise in dredging, operational start-ups and reviews. Mr. Knott previously worked for Nautilus Minerals as operations manager from 2010 to 2012, when he was responsible for defining the company’s original operational readiness plan, as well as providing significant input into the design and scope of the current production system. His immediate past role was operational readiness specialist for Hatch, with clients that included BHP, BMA and Teck Resources. Mr. Knott is MBA-qualified with a bachelor’s degree equivalent in extraction metallurgy.
Mike Johnston, Nautilus’s chief executive officer, commented: “We are delighted to have Wayne back leading our project team. Wayne’s expertise in operational start-ups, their design and implementation, combined with his intimate knowledge of our production system, will be invaluable to us as we continue to advance towards completing the build and integration of our system, and launch the seafloor resource production industry.”
About Nautilus Minerals Inc.
Nautilus is the first company to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits. Nautilus was granted the first mining lease for such deposits at the prospect known as Solwara 1, in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, where it is aiming to produce copper, gold and silver. The company has also been granted its environmental permit for this site.
Nautilus also holds highly prospective exploration acreage in the western Pacific (granted and under application), as well as in international waters in the central Pacific.
