Mining Ocean Floor

Nautilus has ocean technology to dredge the ocean bottom.


Underwater mining. This shows more promise than ultra-deep mining though the obstacles are similar in that we have an inhospitable environment to overcome. The use of modified submersible devices from the deepwater oil industry has helped accelerate the technology curve and high ore grades are hoped for.

To demonstrate the infancy of this mining approach we have Nautilus Minerals Inc. (see link) that is working at depths of up to 1600 meters off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The company is talking about dredging up 2 million tons of rock per annum which presumably must be the amount required to make it a profitable exercise even at suggested grades of 10g per ton. This computes to 5,479 tons per calendar day, which is comparable to the deep mines mentioned above though Nautilus claims that production costs will be lower than traditional mines due to such factors as softer rocks and no overburden.

However, attempts to find statements on starting dates for production let alone proven reserves figures failed.
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