Nautilus Minerals Begins Auxiliary Cutter Commissioning
Nautilus Minerals Inc. informed that the commissioning and factory acceptance testing of its third and final Seafloor Production Tool (SPT), the Auxiliary Cutter, has commenced at Soil Machine Dynamics’ facility at Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.
Nautilus' CEO, Mike Johnston said “With the Bulk Cutter and the Collecting Machine having already begun Factory Acceptance Testing and now with the Auxiliary Cutter underway, we are on track to complete this testing phase and take delivery of the three SPTs in Q4 2015."
When fully assembled, the Auxiliary Cutter will weigh in at 250 metric tons. It is a preparatory machine that deals with rough terrain and creates benches for the other SPTs to work. It will operate on tracks with spud assistance and has a boom mounted cutting head for flexibility.
The excavation and collection of mineralized material has been split into three individual tasks, which will each be carried out by a different SPT. The Auxiliary Cutter is designed as the pioneering tool which prepares the rugged sea bed for the more powerful Bulk Cutter. These two tools gather the excavated material; the third, the Collecting Machine, will collect the cut material by drawing it in as seawater slurry with internal pumps and pushing it through a flexible pipe to the subsea pump and on to the vessel via the Riser and Lifting System.
February 2024
