Nautilus

He said now that the developer, Nautilus Minerals, is in danger of going bankrupt, the Government will be losing millions of taxpayers’ money.

The vocal Governor has described the Solwara 1 project as an ‘evil project’ initiated to destroy the marine environment.

He told this newsroom in a phone interview that the Government has invested a lot of money on the project and if things go wrong, who will be blamed for the decision made to allow the project?

The joint venture firm, called the “Vessel JV,” will be owned by the third parties and Nautilus’ subsidiary, Nautilus Minerals Niugini Limited (NMN).

The purpose of the Vessel JV would be to fund the acquisition of the Production Support Vessel (PSV) that Nautilus had previously arranged to be procured through MAC Goliath Pte Ltd, and the integration costs of installing the mining equipment on the PSV.

The loan is facilitated under the previously announced loan agreement between Deep Sea Mining Finance Limited, two of its subsidiaries, and Nautilus, which provides for a secured structured credit facility of up to US$34 million or K106 million.

The loans are being provided to fund Nautilus’ working capital requirements and enable the Company to continue the advancement of the Solwara 1 Project.

Nautilus continues to seek the remaining project financing of up to approximately US$350 million or K1.1 billion required to complete the development of the Solwara 1 Project.

Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Ltd, the owner of the shipyard where the PSV is being built, rescinded the shipbuilding contract with MAC Goliath Pte Ltd after the contractor failed to pay the third installment of the contract price  of ~US$18m + interest (K56 million).

MAC is the contractor engaged by Nautilus to procure the construction of the PSV on behalf of Nautilus.

On December 11, 2017, Nautilus reported that Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Ltd had notified them of MAC’s default.

Wayne Knott, a former Operations Manager with Nautilus, has been appointed COO and will commence on March 19, 2018.

In a statement, Nautilus’ CEO Mike Johnston, said “We are delighted to have Wayne back leading our project team.

“Wayne’s expertise in operational start-ups, their design and implementation, combined with his intimate knowledge of our production system, will be invaluable to us as we continue to advance towards completing the build and integration of our system, and launch the seafloor resource production industry.”

Sir Arnold made the comments in light of Nautilus struggling to raise sufficient funding for immediate working capital requirements and facilitate payments required to continue the development of the seafloor production system, to be used at the Solwara 1 Project.

The comments are made also in light of the resignation of Russel Debney in December 2017 as director and chairman of Nautilus. He had been on the Nautilus board since 2006.

The company said over the weekend that the Collecting Machine (CM) successfully completed its trials, which indicate that the machine can perform to design specifications.

Following the success of the CM trials, Nautilus minerals have begun the trialling of the auxiliary cutter or AC, which will be followed by the Bulk Cutter or BC which the company will report later in the year.

In a statement, Nautilus CEO Mike Johnston said the company was pleased with the progress of the trials as well as construction and delivery of the seafloor production system.

This was affirmed during a site tour of Nautilus’s Seafloor Productions Tools outside Port Moresby (SPT) by local leaders from New Ireland Province.

Nautilus said the technology employed for the project did not require explosives or chemicals and are confident there will not be any environmental impact.

Several local and provincial leaders from New Ireland Province, arrived in Port Moresby on Monday to see first hand the seafloor Production Tools being tested at Motukea Island outside the capital city.

“Helen Rosenbaum’s comment that locals in Papua New Guinea were prepared to take up arms if a seabed mining project in PNG goes ahead is not only irresponsible but can be taken as an attempt to incite violence,” says the acting executive officer to Commissioner of Police, Chief Superintendent Dominic D. Kakas.

Ms Rosenbaum, the Deep Sea Mining Campaign coordinator, was referring to Canadian company Nautilus Minerals, which was given an Environmental Permit by the PNG government in 2009 to develop the Solwara 1 Project.

The Minerals Resources Authority said positivity remains high following the registration of the Frieda River and Wafi-Golpu SMLs and the entry of Anglo American, as reported in the Mining and Petroleum Review (Vol.4 Issue 3).

The SML applications have been described as a unique situation in PNG mining history as there has been, on average, one project per decade.

The MRA says active licenses have increased for the period January to August 2016, from 125 to 134 (a 7 percent increase), which is consistent with the renewals increasing from 54 to 68