Nautilus’s Bulk Cutter pictured under assembly. The Bulk Cutter will eventually mine material at high rates on areas benched by an Auxiliary Cutter 1,600m below the waves off Papua New Guinea. Photo courtesy Nautilus Minerals
MineSight software is at the heart of the world’s first seafloor copper/gold project, which is now an important step closer to fruition.
In April, Canadian company Nautilus Minerals reached an agreement with the Papua New Guinea government that will allow the company’s Solwara 1 project to proceed.
In the Bismarck Sea to the north of Papua New Guinea, the Solwara 1 deposit boasts a copper grade of approximately seven per cent. Land-based copper mines typically feature copper grades of 0.6 per cent. Gold grades of well over 20g/tonne have also been reported by Nautilus in some of Solwara 1’s intercepts.
Nautilus’ senior mining engineer, Malcolm Roper, called the April 24 agreement a “great step forward in our partnership in developing this new industry”.
“… we see considerable benefit investing in Atlas.” – Malcolm Roper of Nautilus Minerals.
“This agreement allows Nautilus to focus on securing a vessel for the mining operation,” added Roper. Nautilus is eyeing MineSight Atlas for help in its short term plans to deal with more than 9,000 cuts.
“The advances in MineSight Software are welcome,” said Roper. “The package is a far more integrated approach to mine planning. Nautilus has reviewed the new software suite and we see considerable benefit investing in Atlas.
“Our current mine design has more than 9,000 cuts, each with tonnes, grades, specific energy, resource classification and modeled grade variability, which are reported from the production schedule. Dealing with such a large number of elements require time and diligence to ensure the mine planning process is correct and auditable.
“Atlas, once set up, would reduce the number steps and time in creating and reporting the production profile for this operation.”
Nautilus holds more than 500,000 square kilometers of exploration territory in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, New Zealand and the eastern Pacific.
Courtesy Nautilus Minerals
At Solwara 1, once operating, three remote-controlled seafloor production tools will disaggregate and collect rock from the seafloor, before pumping it as slurry through a 1.6-kilometer pipeline to a production support vessel. Nautilus is using MineSight to design and schedule the operation.
“There are many challenges to this deep sea mining project,” said Roper. “Trying to mine hard rock, remotely, with bespoke equipment, at 1,600 meters water depth, with ambient pressure close to 16MPa and from a vessel that is pitching and rolling, are but just a few, but that’s what makes working on this project so interesting.”
Mine design at Solwara 1: Single cut for Auxiliary Cutter (Blue Shape). Photo courtesy Nautilus Minerals
Numerous MineSight products are already in use at the project: MineSight Interactive Planner, Op Engineering, MineSight Geology/Geostats, MineSight Basis Modeling, MineSight Schedule Optimizer, and MineSight Economic Planner.
“Our previous working relationship with MineSight has always been good, and this was a major influence in adopting MineSight for the Solwara 1 project, as well as the customizable nature of the software,” said Roper.
“The main benefit provided by these tools is that they are within the same package. This means there are no work-arounds required to work with the data in later stages of the mine planning process.”
Another example of mine design at Solwara 1: Mine Design: Single cut for Bulk Cutter (Orange Shape). Photo courtesy Nautilus Minerals
Under last month’s agreement, the Papua New Guinea government takes a 15 percent stake of the Solwara 1 Project, with the option for a further 15 percent stake. Papua New Guinea made an initial non-refundable payment of US$7 million to Nautilus with the remainder of its share (US$113 million) paid more recently into escrow.
“The company continues with the build of its equipment,” said Roper. “Assembly of the Bulk Cutter has recently been finished with Factory Acceptance testing due to be completed by July this year. Assembly work on the Auxiliary Cutter and Collecting Machine is due to commence in June this year with completion of these two machines anticipated in the first quarter of 2015.
Seafloor Massive Sulphide deposits form directly on the ocean floor where superheated water carrying metals from deep in the earth, mixes with cold seawater depositing metal-rich minerals. Photo courtesy Nautilus Minerals
“Overall, the tools are over 90 percent complete with the pump and riser system over 50 percent complete.”
On the search for a suitable vessel from which to conduct the mining operation, Roper said several options are available either on a lease, joint venture or ownership basis.
“Each option has its own merits.”
For more on Nautilus Minerals and the Solwara 1 project, visit nautilusminerals.com
