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Rolls Royce supplies engines for world’s first seabed mining ship

Rolls Royce has won a deal to supply six generators for the world's first specialised seabed mining vessel.

It will supply six nine cylinder B33:45L9A medium speed diesel generators to Chinese shipbuilder Fuijan Mawei, which will provide 31.4 MW of power.

It will also supply three underwater mountable thrusters, two retractable azimuth thrusters, and two bow thrusters as part of the agreement.

The vessel, designed by Singaporean firm SeaTeach Solutions for Marine Assets Coproration, is 227 metres long, 40 metres wide, accommodate around 180 people, and will be delivered towards the end of 2017.

It will be used at Nautilus Minerals Solwara 1 project, off Papua New Guinea.

Rolls Royce MAC COO Mark Reeves described the contract as an exciting one for the company.

"This is very exciting to be building a ‘world’s first’ again, and we have a long history of using Rolls-Royce power and propulsion equipment, so we know the vessel will perform well," Reeves said.

"Since becoming involved in this project it is apparent that there is huge potential in subsea mining.

"Nautilus is the market leader in this segment and I believe Solwara 1 is the first project that has actually come off the drawing board, site surveys and sampling has proven that the subsea mining sector can be extremely lucrative compared to land mining, with mineral content per tonne of ore considerably higher than land based mines.”

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