Nautilus Minerals has been advised by Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) that the umbilical winches for the three Seafloor Production Tools (SPTs) have successfully completed Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT). Mike Johnston, Nautilus’ CEO, commented, “completion of FAT on the umbilical winches marks another significant step in the journey towards seafloor mining in 2018.The winches are now ready for the installation of the umbilical cable. When this task is completed later this year the winches will be dispatched to the shipyard for integration on to the vessel.”
The Solwara 1 winches are some 85 t and manage the feed–out and recovery of the SPTs’ umbilicals. There is one winch for each SPT. The winches store 2,500 m of armoured umbilical, with the umbilical providing the power and control systems to the SPTs through copper wire and fibre optic cables embedded within the armoured casing. The umbilical winches will be installed on the production support vessel.
The umbilical winches were designed and built by SMD. The winches are based on standard oil and gas industry technology and are used throughout the world in deep water construction and related activities.
The umbilical cables that will be installed in the winches were designed and adapted for Nautilus’ use by German company, Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke (NSW). NSW is a world leading manufacturer of communications, submarine, overhead, power and offshore cables as well as engineering plastics and environmental products. For over a century now, NSW has been a pioneer in the area of submarine cable technology and communications.
Nautilus is the first company to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits. It was granted the first mining lease for such deposits at the prospect known as Solwara 1, in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea (PNG), where it is aiming to produce copper, gold and silver. It has also been granted its environmental permit for this site.
Nautilus also holds some 420,000 km2 of highly prospective exploration ground in the western Pacific; in PNG, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga, as well as in international waters in the eastern Pacific.