Nautilus Minerals to wet test UES's seafloor production equipment

Nautilus Minerals has signed a deal to provide wet testing support services for Oman-based United Engineering Services’ (UES) seafloor production equipment.

Free Report

Dig deeper with our mining equipment forecasts

As ore mines ramp up and come on stream, the total number of active surface machines (including trucks, excavators, shovels, loaders, graders and dozers) is forecast to rise from 141,470 in 2020 to 167,367 by 2025. This will be a CAGR of 3.4% from 2020 to 2025. The largest contributor to this growth is expected to be trucks, particularly smaller-sized trucks with shorter lifespans, used extensively in parts of Asia Pacific. Underground mining equipment is similarly expected to see a CAGR of 2.3% in this same time frame, with the number of mining trucks and loaders/LHDs in active underground mines expected to rise to 19,853 by 2025. GlobalData’s extensive mine-site research and equipment models have been used to build a complete view of mobile mining equipment populations globally for trucks, loaders, graders, dozers, excavators and shovels. This report includes informative breakdowns by each major region and key mining country, and also by major commodity. Read GlobalData’s Global Surface and Underground Mining Equipment: Populations & Forecast to 2025 for a complete view of the market, allowing you to best position yourself for the future.

By GlobalData

By downloading this case study, you acknowledge that GlobalData may share your information with GlobalData and that your personal data will be used as described in their Privacy Policy Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how GlobalData may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Canada-based Nautilus also signed an agreement for storing the equipment before integrating with UES’s production support vessel (PSV).

Under the agreement, the three seafloor production tools (SPTs) delivered from the Soil Machine Dynamics facility in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, will be tested this year.

"The SPTs will undergo wet testing at Duqm Port in Oman and be stored at UES’s facilities in Duqm."

Once delivered, the SPTs will undergo wet testing at Duqm Port in Oman and be stored at UES’s facilities in Duqm for preservation and maintenance.

They will later be integrated on the PSV, which is expected to occur in 2017.

Nautilus Minerals CEO Mike Johnston said: "It is very exciting to have the SPTs all fully assembled as we prepare for wet testing.

"We appreciate the ongoing support from our largest shareholder, MB Holding Company, who is assisting us with the wet testing and provision of storage facilities in Oman.

"We look forward to the next phase of development to wet test our equipment as we work towards commencing our seafloor operations in Q1 2018."

UES is a wholly owned subsidiary of MB, which holds around 27% of the company’s issued and outstanding shares.

Nautilus Minerals signed an agreement in December 2015 with China-based smelting company Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group for ores extracted from the Solwara 1 deposit in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea.