NEW DESIGNS The ship promising copper, zinc and gold
A HIGHLY specialised deep sea mining vessel for the Solwara Project in Papua New Guinea offers new opportunities to exploit offshore deposits of hard to reach commodities
N
AUTILUS Minerals Inc in Vancouver in Canada has entered into a Heads of
TECHNICAL PARTICULARS
Length, oa................................... 191.30m Length, bp.................................. 175.00m Breadth, moulded......................... 40.00m Depth of main deck...................... 12.00m Design draft.................................... 7.50m Hopper capacity.................... 24,000tons Cargo volume........................... 16,000m3 Main generators.................... 5 x 4500kW Propulsion power.................. 4 x 3300kW Bow thrusters.......................... 3 x 200kW Accommodation................................... 70 Speed........................................... 15knots Seabed crawler............................ 1850kW Riser pipes booster pumps..... 5 x 600kW Riser pipe diameter...................... 300mm
Agreement with Jan De Nul in Belgium, one of the world's leading international dredging companies, for the construction of a highly specialised deep sea mining vessel for Nautilus's Solwara Project in Papua New Guinea. The 191m vessel, to be named Jules
Verne, will be built at Jan de Nul’s expense and chartered by Nautilus Minerals and is expected to be completed in 2009 in order to meet Nautilus's targeted commencement date for mining operations of the end of 2009, which is subject to PNG government approval. David Heydon, chief executive of Nautilus
Minerals, said the agreement with Jan de Nul was a major milestone for the mining project, and noted that Nautilus plans to be the first company in the world to mine deep oceans for copper, gold and zinc. ‘Such a move represents the dawn of a new era in mining,’ said Mr Heydon, ‘the creation of a whole new industry. ‘We have seen how the offshore oil and
gas industry has evolved since its early days - to the point where society is now reliant on offshore oil/gas to meet its needs. Likewise, seafloor resources may one day be critical for society to meet its future needs for copper and zinc.’
Jan De Nul is committing significant capital
to build what will be a highly specialised vessel. Jules Verne will be a dynamically positioned ship capable of deploying mining equipment, pumps and riser pipes for the operations at Solwara 1, which lies on the seafloor in up to 1700m of water. The plan calls for the copper/gold/zinc-
bearing material to be dredged from the seafloor and pumped to the mining vessel, where it would be transferred to barges for transport to a land-based concentrator which would produce a gold-rich copper concentrate for dispatch to copper smelters. Jan De Nul will build, own and operate the
mining ship, and will provide barges, tugs and operational capability in its role as mining contractor for the Solwara 1 Project. Nautilus will provide the capital (budget estimate US$120 million) for two sub sea mining systems, power umbilicals, pumps, 1800m riser pipe and related handling equipment. Jan De Nul will reimburse Nautilus over time for this capital by rebating 6.5% of each monthly contract mining invoice, effectively purchasing the equipment from Nautilus. Ore production rates and consequently
mining costs will vary due to natural variations in material hardness across the deposit, and the Heads of Agreement anticipates a per ton
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