Soil Machine Dynamics’ (SMD) facility at Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, this week commenced the assembly of Nautilus Minerals’ third and final Seafloor Production Tool (SPT), the Auxiliary Cutter (AC).
Nautilus’ CEO, Mike Johnston said: “W e 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. 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.
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Press Release, June 25, 2014