PRESS RELEASE: To complete the trials, Nautilus worked closely with its partner Petromin, government officers from the various government regulatory agencies in PNG, as well as representatives from the provincial governments of New Ireland and East New Britain.

Nautilus also said it gave community leaders from coastal villages geographically closest to the Solwara 1 deep-sea mining site the opportunity to witness the trials of the equipment.

Mike Johnston, Nautilus’ CEO commented: “The overarching objective of the trials was to ensure that all three machines met the requirements of their respective functional design specifications in submerged conditions. Results to date indicate that they do. Analysis is ongoing with a view to complete a full report on the submerged trials by the end of Q1 [March quarter] 2018.”

The equipment is currently being prepared for shipment to China, where it will be integrated onto the production support vessel.