Nautilus Minerals

Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX: NUS, OTCQX: NUSMF) is an underwater mineral exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Canada.[1] It is the first company to commercially explore the seafloor for massive sulfide systems, a potential source of high grade copper, gold, zinc and silver. As of October 2010, Nautilus planned to commence production utilizing a newly constructed mining ship in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea.[2]

The company's Solwara 1 Project is located at 1600 metres water depth in the Bismarck Sea, New Ireland Province.[3] It will be the world’s first deep-sea mining project.[3][4] The deposit is a high grade copper-gold resource and the world's first seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) resource.[3] The company plans to grow its tenement holdings in the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Zealand as well as other areas outside the Western Pacific.

Solwara 1 Resource

In 2007 the exploration team drilled a 43-101 resource on the Solwara 1 Project using newly developed ROV drills. The resulting high grade copper-gold resource was the world's first Seafloor Massive Sulphide ("SMS") resource statement. In 2010/11 further drilling was conducted at Solwara 1 resulting in an increase in the resource base. Results of the updated resource were as follows (November 25, 2011): Indicated Mineral Resource: 1,030kt @ 7.2% Cu, 5.0 g/t Au, 23 g/t Ag, 0.4% Zn Inferred Mineral Resource: 1,540kt @ 8.1% Cu, 6.4 g/t Au, 34 g/t Ag, 0.9% Zn

A copy of the full updated mineral resource estimate can be found here PDF.

The original 43-101 resource report can be found here PDF

The 2011 Golders Resource update also saw the companies second resource declared for the Solwara 12 project (230K t), some 25 km NE of Solwara 1, on EL1324.

References

  1. ↑ "Geoscience BC". November 2010.
  2. ↑ Terrestrial Telerobotic Mining Technology: An Enabler for Extraterrestrial Habitation, Mining and Construction, recorded on 31 October 2010, 52.25, Prof. Greg Baiden, Laurentian University, Talk given at the Space Manufacturing 14 conference, 29–31 October 2010, Space Studies Institute
  3. 1 2 3 "Solwara 1 Project – High Grade Copper and Gold". Nautilus Minerals Inc. 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  4. ↑ Hill, Matthew (2010-09-07). "Nautilus says could start undersea mining in 2013". Mining Weekly. Retrieved 14 September 2010.

External links


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