VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The TSX-listed equity of marine mining pioneer Nautilus Minerals has gained nearly 44% since the start of the year, adding about 7% on Tuesday alone on news that construction of its production support vessel has passed the 75% completion mark.
Under construction at the Fujian Mawei Shipyard, in China, the production support vessel has already seen the in-hold material handling system installed, allowing the vessel deck to be closed, while installation of the derrick substructures and advancement of the derrick structure continues.
Nautilus reported that the Sichuan Honghua Petroleum Equipment Co has made good progress with the fabrication of the derrick and associated substructure. This equipment is required to deploy the subsea slurry lift pump and riser. The derrick substructure has now been installed.
The derrick tower has been fully assembled at the yard, with installation to occur on the vessel after Chinese New Year. The riser storage and handling system is due to be delivered to the yard towards the end of February, for assembly and subsequent installation in March.
Further, progress continues on marine systems with all the ship's engines run and load tested in December. Installing the electrical equipment and transformers for the seafloor production tools is ongoing. The 200T and 100T ship's cranes have now been installed on the deck, along with one of the seafloor production tools' maintenance cranes.
Nautilus had also recently announced that it has successfully completed submerged trials for its seafloor production tools in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where it formed a joint venture company with PNG's nominee, Eda Kopa (Solwara), in December 2014 to mine high-grade polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits. Nautilus has an 85% shareholding and Eda Kopa 15%.