Nautilus: SMD Starts Auxiliary Cutter Assembly

Nautilus Minerals Inc.  has announced that the assembly of its third and final Seafloor Production Tool (SPT), the Auxiliary Cutter (AC), has this week begun at Soil Machine Dynamics’ (SMD) facility at Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Nautilus’ CEO, Mike Johnston, said: “We are pleased that the assembly of the AC, the third and final of the three SPTs has now commenced, with the arrival of the chassis at the SMD facility. The next milestone for the SPTs will be the commencement of Factory Acceptance Testing on the already assembled Bulk Cutter (BC). We look forward to reporting on this progress next month.”

The AC will weigh in at 250 tonnes when fully assembled. The AC is a preparatory machine that deals with rough terrain and creates benches for the other SPTs to work. It will operate on tracks with spud assistance and has a boom mounted cutting head for flexibility.

Subsea vehicle designer and manufacturer, SMD of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, is the company responsible for building the SPTs for Nautilus.