PROFILE
Nautically speaking
“ By 2040 , our worldwide need for copper will have almost doubled ,” says Mike Johnston , Helmsman , President and CEO of Nautilus Minerals , a deep sea mining company operating from Brisbane , Australia . “ There are still huge reserves under the sea . By 2040 , I ’ d expect about 30 percent of copper to come from below the water . There ’ s huge potential .”
Nautilus , set up in 1997 and listed on the Toronto stock exchange in May 2006 , specialises in mining metals at a depth of 1000 to 7000 metres below sea level . A 227-metre-long ship is currently being built for the company in China . It will be moved to around 30 km off Papua New Guinea to mine the Solwara 1 deposit which is already being explored by the company . It is the size of around 15 rugby fields and sits in the seafloor at 1600 metres . Mining operations are planned to start in early 2018 . The company also has exploration licences for deposits off Tonga and in the Central Pacific – including a site which contains around 750 million tonnes of copper , cobalt , manganese and other minerals .
“ Metals mined from the sea floor tend to be of a higher grade than those from traditional terrestrial mining ,” Mike adds . “ The Solwara 1 deposit contains a copper grade of nearly eight percemnt as opposed to land-based copper mines where the grade average around 0.6 percent .” Nautilus will also mine for other metals including gold and silver , zinc , lead , cobalt and manganese from the sea floor .
8 A ugust 2016