TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Toronto-listed Nautilus Minerals, which aims to mine copper- and gold-laden rock from the Bismark Sea’s floor, has contracted Singapore-headquartered Gardline CGG to provide exploration services for Nautilus' 2015 exploration programme in the Solomon Islands.

The vessel MV Duke would be used to generate targets to expand Nautilus' seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) prospect inventory within its fully owned Solomon Islands exploration licences.

"We are excited to be back on the water this year, focused on adding to our high-grade SMS prospect inventory by applying the successful high-tech exploration techniques we have been refining since 2006. This is the second time we have been supported by Gardline in our exploration efforts and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them,” Nautilus CEO Mike Johnston commented.

Under terms of the contract, Gardline CGG would provide 43 days of services, mobilising from Brisbane, Australia, on or about April 25.

The programme would define SMS targets using efficient multibeam echo sounder and plume hunting techniques. Plume hunting is a regional geochemical technique involving the discovery of metal rich plumes of material that are ejected into the water column from prospective areas, by natural geological processes.

The main objective of this programme would be to discover more mineralised systems to support the company’s business model. Nautilus explained that among its many expected advantages, seafloor resource production would allow it to gather resources from multiple mineralised systems without the need for significant additional capital.

The MV Duke vessel is a 67-m-long, 2 031 gross tonne, survey vessel, originally built in 1983 and extensively refitted in 1998 by A/S Vaagen Vert, Norway. The vessel is equipped with a hull-mounted Kongsberg EM302 multibeam system, a seafloor mapping system that provides some of the highest-quality seafloor mapping data available.

Existing Nautilus strategic shareholders included MB Holding, Metalloinvest and Anglo American, which held a 16.9%, 21% and 11.1% stake in the company, respectively.