Nautilus: Mineral Resource Estimate for CCZ Shows Seafloor Resources Potential

Nautilus Minerals announces that its 100% owned subsidiary, Tonga Offshore Mining Limited (“TOML”) confirmed that Golder Associates Pty Ltd., (“Golder”) has completed a maiden Mineral Resource estimate for TOML’s Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (“CCZ”) polymetallic nodule project, located within the Central Pacific Ocean.

The Inferred Mineral Resource has been reported at a range of abundance cut-offs.

Nautilus President and CEO Steve Rogers commented, “Our maiden mineral resource estimate for the CCZ again highlights the enormous potential of seafloor resources. We believe that the advance in processing and offshore technologies over the last 20 years now makes the extraction of these significant resources technically feasible.”

The reduced social disturbance associated with deep sea mineral production and the development of a strong regulatory framework by the International Seabed Authority since 1994 are key elements that set this project apart from large land based resource developments.

Steve Rogers added that, “At Nautilus Minerals we are hugely excited to be leading the development of this enormous, currently untapped potential on the seafloor. Our priority focus must remain with our high grade Solwara 1 seafloor massive sulphide (“SMS”) project, and other prospective SMS systems in PNG and Tonga. With the immense polymetallic nodule mineral resources of the CCZ however, we have to start the engineering and evaluation processes now to realise this opportunity at the appropriate time in the future. There is the potential for a further update of this mineral resource estimate, in that approximately 30% of our licence area is not included in the estimate, but both of these areas are known to have nodules present from limited sampling work carried out to date.”

The nodules occur within the CCZ of the tropical north Pacific, in water depths generally between 4,000 and 6,000 meters. They contain significant grades of manganese, nickel, copper and cobalt, and form by the precipitation of metals on the seafloor, either directly from ocean waters or via decomposing microorganisms and/or their effluent in benthic sediments.

[mappress]

Press Release, September 19, 2012