Solwara 1

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Solid sulphide sample from the flank of a hydrothermal vent

Solwara 1 ( Pidgin salt water or sea ) is a metal sulfide - deposit on the sea bottom of the Bismarck , off the coasts of about Papua New Guinea islands belonging New Britain and New Ireland . From 2013 the Canadian - Australian stock corporation Nautilus Minerals Inc. should start mining seafloor massive sulphides ( Seafloor Massive Sulphides , SMS) , compounds of hydrogen sulphide and metals that contain copper , zinc and traces of gold and here in 1700 m water depth below sea ​​level Contain silver , begin. Solwara 1 was the world's first project for the extraction of mineral resources from rock containing sulfide in the deep sea. In 2019, after the bankruptcy of Nautilus Minerals and a fruitless attempt by the government of Papua New Guinea to save the project, it is considered to have failed.

location

The area is located in the eastern Manus Basin, 50 km north of Rabaul and 95 km west of the island of Niolam on the northern flank of the active submarine volcano North Su , within the 200 nautical miles of the National Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Papua New Guinea.

geology

The Solwara 1 area comprises a mineralized zone at least 1.3 km long and 80 to 200 m wide. The geologists have so far defined 2.17 million t of minable, ore-bearing rock with an average of 7.22% copper , 6.24 g gold , 31.39 g silver and 0.64% zinc .

Metal sulphides form in the vicinity of black smokers in plate tectonically active zones. In the area of ​​the Bismarck Sea, the Pacific and Australian plates collide. Cold seawater penetrating deep into the fissures is heated by the magma chambers below . The 300 ° C to 360 ° C hot water then emerges from the sea floor. In this way it dissolves sulfur and metals from the rock. When the solution comes into contact with the cold seawater, the larger metal sulfide particles precipitate and form a hydrothermal vent, while the finer particles settle in the area. These black smokers are usually around ten feet tall and a few feet wide. As they break down and new black smokers form in the same place, mounds of larger size can form over time.

First preparations for deep sea mining

The Solwara 1 deposit was discovered in 1996 by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). In March 2005, Nautilus Minerals, in a joint venture with the Canadian mining company Placer Dome Inc., conducted 1 side-scan sonar examinations and samplings with the chain bag dredge in the Solwara area . In 2006, samples analyzed by Nautilus Minerals in collaboration with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution , an oceanographic research institute , revealed high levels of copper, zinc, gold and silver.

In 1997 Papua New Guinea granted the company Nautilus Minerals the world's first license for the exploration of submarine deposits of massive sulphide ores for commercial purposes in a small area at 1700 m depth on the North Su volcano , which was later named Solwara 1. Nautilus found partners and financiers in the raw materials groups Anglo American from South Africa (owns 11.1% in Nautilus Minerals), Teck Cominco from Canada (6.8%) and Metalloinvest from Russia (21%).

Nautilus Minerals needed a special ship for mining, which should be rented for around 25 million US dollars per year. On June 20, 2008, an agreement was signed with the Norwegian North Sea Shipping Holding AS for the construction and subsequent charter of such a mining support vessel (Mining Support Vessel) . The agreement provided for the ship to be chartered for five years with the option to extend the charter contract for a further five years. Construction of the hull at the Turkish shipyard RMK Marine in Tuzla, south of Istanbul , began in August 2008. After completion of the hull production, the ship was to be equipped at the Astilleros Barreras shipyard in Vigo , northern Spain ; completion was scheduled for June 2010. The planned special ship was 160 m long, 30 m wide, had a draft of 7 m, a deck area of ​​2,900 m² and a load capacity of 14,200 t. A 400 t crane with active swell compensation and an output of 21 MW should enable it to work at depths of 2500 m. The ship was intended for a crew of 120 men.

A special submarine mining device, the Seafloor Mining Tool (SMT), a type of remote-controlled bulldozer , is supposed to drive on the seabed and use cutting tools to cut the ore-containing rock on the black smokers. Two SMTs were installed at Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd. in Newcastle upon Tyne for 65.5 million US dollars . The mined ore is said to be with a lift system ordered from Technip USA for 116 million US dollars to transport the ore to the surface, the Riser and Lifting System (RALS) . be pumped up to the ship in 30 cm diameter pipes and preprocessed on the mining ship. Then it is loaded onto barges, brought ashore to an ore processing plant, processed into a copper concentrate with a high gold content and transported to a copper smelter.

After Nautilus Minerals had stopped various contracts in December 2008, including the agreement of June 20, 2008 with North Sea Shipping Holding AS on the construction of the mining support ship due to the global economic slowdown and postponed the construction of the plants, the company announced in May 2009 about 80% of systems engineering have been completed.

Further preparations

In September 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Conservation of Papua New Guinea (DEC) issued the Approval in Principle for the environmental impact assessment of the project. The final environmental permit for the Solwara 1 project was granted by DEC on December 29, 2009 for a period of 25 years.

In October 2009, Nautilus Minerals Inc. entered into a contractual agreement with the Port of Papua New Guinea Management Company (PNG-Ports Corporation Limited, PNGPC) that would handle 1.5 million tons of ore per year in the port of Rabaul for three years secures. Incoming barges can be unloaded here, the ore temporarily stored and reloaded onto ships for export.

In 2011 it became known that Nautilus Minerals Inc. and the shipping group Harren & Partner , based in Bremen , wanted to work together in the field of mining raw materials from the sea as part of a strategic partnership. A ship joint venture was established to acquire and operate a production ship . Harren & Partner is responsible for the construction of the special ship. The Germanischer Lloyd classified the draft of a long 208 m and 40 m wide building, which will have capacity of 18,800 dwt with a. The devices for mining the massive sulphides in the Solwara 1 deposit are to be used and remote-controlled from the ship. It is to be built at the P + S shipyard in Stralsund , the planned delivery is in 2013. After the handover, the new building is to be sold to the ship joint venture, in which the shipping company Harren & Partner holds a 50.01% stake. The remaining 49.99% is held by Nautilus Minerals through a holding company in which the Papua New Guinean gas company Petromin PNG Holding Ltd has a 5% stake. It is then planned to charter the ship to a joint venture for the extraction of raw materials, which consists of 70% Nautilus Minerals shares and 30% Petromin shares. Harren is responsible for the crew, logistics and ship management.

Nautilus Minerals has more than ten other potential deposits in the Bismarck Sea (Solwara 2–13). Two promising projects are located near the Solwara 1 area at a depth of around 1700 m.

criticism

Black smokers are the most densely populated known deep-sea habitats. At a meeting of the Bismark Solomon Seas Indigenous People's Council in late June 2008, concerns of numerous villages and tribes about negative impacts on the environment and livelihoods in the coastal waters of Papua New Guinea were raised. The representatives of the coastal population fear major encroachments on their living environment and demanded that the competent authorities examine the risks and dispel their concerns.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SMS History, Papua New Guinea Exploration ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Nautilus Minerals Inc. (accessed January 4, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nautilusminerals.com
  2. ↑ Evangelical Lutheran Deanery Ansbach Small dictionary in Pidgin  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed January 4, 2010; PDF file; 11 kB)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.ansbach-evangelisch.de  
  3. ↑ a b Janina Liersch: Deutschland slumbed down global deep-sea races manager magazin, September 14, 2011 (accessed January 12, 2012)
  4. ↑ Collapse of PNG deep-sea mining venture sparks calls for moratorium , The Guardian, September 16, 2019
  5. ↑ Detailed map Solwara 1  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 234 kB) Nautilus Minerals Inc. (accessed January 2, 2010)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.cares.nautilusminerals.com  
  6. ↑ a b Nautilus Minerals Inc .: Location of Solwara Prospects, Map Solwara 1-13  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 3, 2009 (PDF)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nautilusminerals.com  
  7. ↑ a b Martin Leuch: Copper and Gold from the Deep Sea , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 14, 2007 (accessed March 24, 2019)
  8. ↑ a b c d Johannes Heinritzi: Raw Material Shares , Darwin's Principle, Nautilus Minerals - Golden Fantasy Focus Money No. 12, March 11, 2009 (accessed January 2, 2010)
  9. ^ Michael Mittelstädt Deep Sea Mining in the South Pacific.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Forum for members and friends of the Pacific Network eV, circular no. 72, 2007 (accessed January 2, 2010)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www2.pazifik-netzwerk.de  
  10. ↑ Tony O'Sullivan China Nautilus Minerals Inc. Mining Presentation, November 2008, p. 27  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed January 2, 2010; PDF file; 1.49 MB)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nautilusminerals.com  
  11. ↑ a b Vessel Contract for Solwara 1 Development Signed ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Nautilus Minerals Inc., News Releases, June 20, 2008 (accessed January 2, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nautilusminerals.com
  12. ↑ a b c Nautilus Minerals Inc. Company Fact Sheet, September 2008  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed January 2, 2010; PDF file; 3.87 MB)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nautilusminerals.com  
  13. ↑ Technip: Nautilus Minerals, RALS project presentation to AFTP , October 21, 2008 (PDF file; 1.67 MB)
  14. ↑ Nautilus Announces Deferral of Solwara 1 Mining System Equipment Build ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Nautilus Minerals Inc., News Releases, December 17, 2008 (accessed January 2, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nautilusminerals.com
  15. ↑ Solwara 1 Development Project Update ( Memento of the original from May 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Nautilus Minerals Inc., News Releases, May 19, 2009 (accessed January 2, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nautilusminerals.com
  16. ↑ Nautilus Granted Environmental Permit Approval in Principle for Solwara 1 ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Nautilus Minerals Inc., News Releases, September 11, 2009 (accessed January 2, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nautilusminerals.com
  17. ↑ Solwara 1 Environmental Permit Granted ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Nautilus Minerals Inc. News Releases, January 5, 2010 (accessed August 3, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nautilusminerals.com
  18. ↑ Nautilus Secures Port Capacity at Rabaul for Solwara 1 and Announces Board Changes  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Nautilus Minerals Inc., News Releases, October 7, 2009 (accessed January 2, 2010)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nautilusminerals.com  
  19. ↑ a b c Strategic Partnership , Schiff & Hafen, May 4, 2011 (accessed January 12, 2012)
  20. ↑ Hans Jürgen Witthöft: Off to new shores  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 2.33 MB) Hansa International Maritime Journal, Volume 148, 2011, No. 10 (accessed January 12, 2012)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.harren-partner.de  
  21. ↑ Wence Magun: People of Bismark and Solomon Seas petition PNG Government to suspend sea bed mining in Their territorial seas Radio New Zealand International , July 1, 2008

Web links

Coordinates: 3 ° 51 ′ 29 ″  S , 152 ° 6 ′ 17 ″  E