Marine mining.

Development of marine mineral resources continues around the world, with exploration for polymetalllic manganese nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific, V- and Ti-containing iron sands as well as ilmeniite, gold and silver off New Zealand's North Island, Namibian diamond and phosphate deposits, and rare earths in clay sediments on the bed of the Pacific Ocean. However, demand for methane hydrate has receded with the advent of land-based shale gas resources while construction of seabed mining equipment for the Solwara One copper-gold project, in the Bismarck Sea off Papua New Guinea (PNG), has been cancelled in the wake of a political dispute between Nautilus Minerals and the PNG government. Nautilus holds licences for Cu and Au massive sulphide-hosted deposits in Tonga, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, as well as for Ni and Cu pollymetallic nodule deposits in the central Pacific, and has pioneered the development of a seafloor production system based on well-tested and proven technologies used by the offshore hydrocarbon, telecommunication and dredging industries. The system comprises seafloor rock-cutting and collecting vehicles, a riser and lift system and a production support vessel.
Development of marine mineral resources continues around the world, with exploration for polymetalllic manganese nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific, V- and Ti-containing iron sands as well as ilmeniite, gold and silver off New Zealand's North Island, Namibian diamond and phosphate deposits, and rare earths in clay sediments on the bed of the Pacific Ocean. However, demand for methane hydrate has receded with the advent of land-based shale gas resources while construction of seabed mining equipment for the Solwara One copper-gold project, in the Bismarck Sea off Papua New Guinea (PNG), has been cancelled in the wake of a political dispute between Nautilus Minerals and the PNG government. Nautilus holds licences for Cu and Au massive sulphide-hosted deposits in Tonga, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, as well as for Ni and Cu pollymetallic nodule deposits in the central Pacific, and has pioneered the development of a seafloor production system based on well-tested and proven technologies used by the offshore hydrocarbon, telecommunication and dredging industries. The system comprises seafloor rock-cutting and collecting vehicles, a riser and lift system and a production support vessel.