Nautilus Minerals 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.”

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, Nautilus informed.

The umbilical winches were designed and built by SMD.

The umbilical cables that will be installed in the winches were designed and adapted for Nautilus’ use by German company, Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke (NSW).