Umbilical Winches for Nautilus' SPTs successfully complete FAT
Toronto Ontario, March 24, 2015 - Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX:NUS, OTCQX: NUSMF) (the "Company" or "Nautilus"
announces that it has been advised by Soil Machine Dynamics Limited (SMD) that the umbilical winches for the three Seafloor Production Tools (SPTs) have successfully completed Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT).
announces that it has been advised by Soil Machine Dynamics Limited (SMD) that the umbilical winches for the three Seafloor Production Tools (SPTs) have successfully completed Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT).
Mike Johnston, Nautilus' CEO, commented, "completion of FAT on the umbilical winches marks another significant step in the journey towards seafloor mining in 2018.The winches are now ready for the installation of the umbilical cable. When this task is completed later this year the winches will be dispatched to the shipyard for integration on to the vessel."
Umbilical Winches: What they do
The Solwara 1 winches are approximately 85 tonnes and manage the feed--out and recovery of the SPTs' umbilicals. There is one winch for each SPT. The winches store 2500 metres of armored umbilical, with the umbilical providing the power and control systems to the SPTs through copper wire and fiber optic cables embedded within the armored casing. The umbilical winches will be installed on the production support vessel.
The umbilical winches were designed and built by SMD. The winches are based on standard Oil and Gas industry technology and are utilised throughout the world in deep water construction and related activities. (See figure one in the links section for a picture of the winches).
The umbilical cables that will be installed in the winches were designed and adapted for Nautilus' use by German company, Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke (NSW). NSW is a world leading manufacturer of communications, submarine, overhead, power and offshore cables as well as engineering plastics and environmental products. For over a century now, NSW has been a pioneer in the area of submarine cable technology and communications. (See figures 2 and 3 for pictures of Nautilus' umbilical cable).
