Bedeschi Bags Cargo Handling Equipment Order

An order for cargo handling equipment to be used on Nautilus Minerals’ production support vessel has been awarded to Italy’s Bedeschi SPA, marking the second major equipment contract to be awarded by the shipyard, Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Limited. 

 

The cargo handling system will be used on the production support vessel to load the dewatered material into four storage holds and is designed to recover the material from the storage holds and transfer it directly to a handymax vessel for shipment of the material to China.

 

Last year Nautilus announced it had entered into an agreement with Marine Assets Corporation (MAC), for the charter of a vessel to be first deployed for use at the Solwara 1 Project and that MAC had entered into a contract with Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Ltd., to design and construct the vessel in accordance with Nautilus' specifications.

 

The vessel will first serve as the operational base to extract and transport high grade copper and gold material from the Project site, in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea, after funding is obtained for completion of the development of the project.

 

When completed, the vessel will measure 227 meters in length and 40 meters in width with accommodation for up to 180 people and generate approximately 31MW of power. All of the below deck mining equipment will be installed in the vessel during the build process to minimize the equipment integration to be completed following delivery of the vessel. The vessel is expected to be delivered by the end of 2017.