Nautilus Minerals Releases First Quarter Results (Canada)

 

Nautilus Minerals Inc made significant progress in the development of its pioneering seafloor resource project at Solwara 1, in the Bismarck Sea of PNG, in the first quarter of 2011.

The highlights of the quarter were as follows:

*Mining Lease Granted. In January, the PNG Government granted Nautilus the first Mining Lease in the Pacific region to allow deep sea resource development in the Bismarck Sea. The lease provides Nautilus with a 20 year licence to mine an area of approximately 59 km2 surrounding Solwara 1, 30 km north of Rabaul, where Nautilus intends to mine high-grade copper and gold deposits on the seafloor, at depths of approximately 1600 metres.

*PNG Government acquires 30% interest in Solwara 1 project. On March 29, 2011, the PNG Government exercised an option to acquire a 30% stake in Nautilus’ Solwara 1 project. The State’s share will be held through Petromin PNG Holdings Ltd, which holds the State’s mining and petroleum assets. The State’s initial payment to secure its 30% holding will be approximately US$20-25 million, which represents its share of the exploration and development costs incurred up to the date of grant of the mining lease in January 2011. The final amount will be determined through an audit process, with payment to be made by August 1, 2011. In future, Petromin will contribute funds to the Solwara 1 Project in proportion to its ownership interest.

*Exploration drilling campaign conducted. During the quarter, an exploration drilling campaign was conducted in the Bismarck Sea in Papua New Guinea with encouraging results. As part of the 2010/2011 drilling program another potential development project has been identified at Solwara 12, which is 25 km to the northwest of Solwara 1. The drilling program was completed in May 2011. Results of the program are currently being assessed and will be released later this year.

*Strong cash position maintained. Nautilus completed the quarter with a strong cash position, holding $139 million in cash and cash equivalents. Two milestone payments were made for engineering and construction of Seafloor Production Tools during the quarter, and additional cash drawdowns were associated with the exploration campaign.

Since the end of the quarter, the company has announced the formation of a strategic partnership with German shipping company, Harren & Partner, to own and operate a Production Support Vessel (PSV), which will serve as the operational base for Nautilus to extract high grade copper and gold at the Solwara 1 project.

On 24th May 2011, Nautilus launched a marketed public offering of common shares. The Company received a positive response from investors during marketing of the proposed transaction but adverse market conditions meant that it was not in the interests of shareholders for the transaction to proceed and on 10th June, the offering was withdrawn. The Company will evaluate a range of alternative options available to it to access capital in the future.

CEO Steve Rogers said the first quarter had seen a number of important milestones achieved for Nautilus.

The granting of the Mining Lease was a major step forward for us, and we also were very pleased to welcome the PNG Government as a partner in this important project. The subsequent formation of the Harren joint venture has secured a state of the art vessel for the project.

“Nautilus has now developed significant momentum, we are looking at alternative capital raising plans and look forward to announcing the results of our exploration campaigns in the coming months,” said Mr Rogers.

The company has released its unaudited consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011 together with Management’s Discussion and Analysis.

Nautilus Minerals Inc.

Nautilus is the first company to commercially explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits and is currently developing its first project. The Company’s main focus is the Solwara 1 project, which is located in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean.

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Source: Nautilus Minerals , June 15 , 2011;