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Appendices 5-13 - Nautilus Cares - Nautilus Minerals

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1. Introduction<br />

The initial offshore phase of the Solwara 1 Project, which is located approximately<br />

50km north of Rabaul, in the eastern extent of the Manus Basin – Bismarck Sea, New<br />

Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, involves mining copper-, gold-, zinc- and<br />

silver-rich SMS deposits on the ocean floor at approximately 1,600m water depth. A<br />

subsea mining tool deployed from a mining support vessel will be used to mine the<br />

deposits and a riser and lift system, connected to the mining tool, will transport the ore<br />

to the surface vessel. Once on the surface vessel, the ore will be dewatered and<br />

transferred to a barge for shipping to an overseas concentrator and smelter. The<br />

processed water will be returned to the ocean approximately 25 m above the seafloor.<br />

The CSIRO (Simpson et al, 2007) reported on water and sediment characterization in<br />

the vicinity of the SMS deposits at the Solwara 1 Prospect. They also reported on the<br />

toxicity of the ore dewatering water on aquatic organisms. In conjunction with this<br />

work they conducted elutriate tests to determine the potential for release of<br />

contaminants from ore in the dewatering plumes. The results of the elutriate tests<br />

showed metal release was high for As, Cu, Mn and Zn, but relatively low for Ag, Cd,<br />

Ni and Pb. Based on these results Simpson et al (2007) concluded that dilutions<br />

greater than 1,000 times may be necessary before concentrations of these metals<br />

would be below the 95% protection levels of the ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) water<br />

quality guidelines. These tests were conducted at room temperature in fully<br />

oxygenated seawater and using ore/sediment that may have been oxidized as a result<br />

of the storage methods used.<br />

Coffey Natural Systems Pty Ltd engaged Charles Darwin University to carry out<br />

further elutriate tests based on the brief BE07008 (2008). The Brief was to conduct<br />

further elutriate tests for <strong>Nautilus</strong> <strong>Minerals</strong> Nugini Limited on an ore sample that<br />

would be extracted and subsequently discharged during an at sea ore de-watering<br />

process as part of the Solwara 1 project. The elutriate tests were to be conducted in<br />

three phases:<br />

• Phase 1: Effect of holding time;<br />

• Phase 2: Effect of temperature; and<br />

• Phase 3: Effect of shaking.<br />

3

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