The world's first deep-water seafloor production support vessel for Nautilus Minerals has been launched at Mawei Shipyard in China.
Designed for obtaining high-grade copper, gold and silver, the vessel will be used by Nautilus and its partner, Eda Kopa (Solwara) at the Solwara 1 project site, in the Bismarck Sea off Papua New Guinea.
Nautilus' Chief Executive Officer Mike Johnston said the vessel provides a stable platform for operations using dynamic positioning technologies to ensure it stays on location at Solwara 1 irrespective of wind and wave conditions.
It is about 75 per cent complete, with delivery scheduled for March 31, 2019.