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Mining project off PNG moves ahead

Mining project off PNG moves ahead

Toronto: Canada’s Nautilus Minerals has entered into an agreement for the charter of a vessel to be first deployed for use at the Solwara 1 project in Papua New Guinea.

Dubai’s Marine Assets Corporation (MAC) will own and provide the marine management of the vessel. The vessel will be chartered to Nautilus for a minimum period of five years at a rate of US$199,910 per day, with options to either extend the charter or purchase the vessel at the end of the five-year period.

The vessel will first serve as the operational base for the joint venture (Solwara 1 JV) to be formed by Nautilus and the independent state of Papua New Guinea's nominee, Eda Kopa (Solwara) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Petromin PNG Holdings Limited, to support the operations carried out by the Solwara 1 JV to extract and to transport high grade copper and gold material from the project site, in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea.

Under the terms of the arrangement, MAC will enter into a contract with Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding in China to design and construct the vessel in accordance with Nautilus' specifications.

When completed, the vessel will measure 227 m in length and 40 m in width with accommodation for up to 180 people and generate approximately 31MW of power. All of the below deck mining equipment will be installed in the vessel during the build process to minimize the equipment integration to be completed following delivery of the vessel. The vessel is expected to be delivered by the end of 2017. [10/11/14]

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