Mining Magazine > Panorama > Nautilus explores with Fugro

Fugro has signed an agreement with Nautilus Minerals Inc. to provide exploration services for its 2009 projects in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The vessel MV Fugro Solstice will be used to expand Nautilus' seafloor massive sulphide prospect inventory within its 100% owned Bismarck, Woodlark and Solomon Islands exploration licenses.

MV Fugro Solstice is a dynamically positioned support vessel. It is fitted with both Fugro's own navigation/positioning systems and a 3,000m capable, permanently installed FCV3000 remotely-operated vehicle which will be used to deploy a range of sampling instruments.

Stephen Rogers, Nautilus' CEO, commented: "We are very excited by the program we have planned for Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands this year. Focusing on building our high grade seafloor massive sulphide prospect inventory, we will apply exploration techniques which we have refined each year since 2006. This is the first time we have been supported by Fugro in our exploration effort and we look forward to building a relationship with the company."

The contract with Fugro is for 124 days of services, mobilising from Singapore on August 10. Nautilus has options to extend this initial period by up to 98 days. During this time, Fugro will conduct target generation work using regional geophysical and geochemical surveys, and target testing which consists of detailed geophysical surveys, geological traversing and sampling. The primary objective of this program is to discover further mineralised systems to support this business model.