Nautilus Minerals Inc: phase one deep sea exploration programme completed in PNG Source: 09-MAY-2008 Intellasia |Marketwire
May 9, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
Nautilus Minerals Inc. (the "Company" or "Nautilus") announces that Teck Cominco Limited ("Teck") has completed the first phase of its USUS$12 million 2008 offshore exploration programme over Nautilus' exploration apartments. These apartments are located in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea ("PNG") and exclusive economic zone of Tonga. The phase one programme was completed on Tuesday May 6, 2008 with the demobilisation of the MV Sepura in Port Moresby. This phase involved a 28-day bathymetric mapping programme within the territorial waters of PNG that was designed to define targets for subsequent geochemical surveying and Remote Operated Vehicle ("ROV") based sampling.
VP Exploration for Teck, Fred Daley commented: "Our dedicated crew of technical, safety, and logistics personnel has been able to complete this programme on time and under budget, without a single lost time injury or safety incident and with greater seabed coverage than was originally planned. We are excited by both the quality of the data and the results which are a significant improvement on previous data sets (www.nautilusminerals.com/i/photos/new-bathymetry-map.jpg). Our geologists and geophysicists are currently working with Nautilus personnel to interpret this new data and prioritise targets for our follow-up sampling programme which we are planning to launch in mid-May."
Nautilus CEO-David Heydon commented: "The bathymetric survey is phase one of Teck's USUS$12 million 2008 exploration programme. After this programme Teck can elect to form a joint venture with Nautilus and invest to earn an interest in up to six countries, as per our December 2007 agreement (www.nautilusminerals.com/s/Media-NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=278422 ). Nautilus is fortunate to have a company of Teck's size and "ore finding" expertise spending significant money on Nautilus ground in parallel with our own exploration to fast track a resource pipeline. We are eagerly awaiting the results of their follow-up programme."
Options Exercised
As a result of the exercise of options, the Co has made an application for 98,700 common shares to be admitted to the AIM and TSX. The shares are expected to be admitted to trading on May 13, 2008.
About Nautilus Minerals Inc.
Nautilus is the first company to commercially explore the ocean floor for gold and copper seafloor massive sulphide deposits and subject to timely permitting is positioning itself to become an emerging producer in 2010. 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. Nautilus is listed on the TSX and on AIM, and has among its largest shareholders two of the world's leading international resource companies, Teck Cominco (7.2%) and Anglo American (5.7%). Epion (22.4%) is controlled by the founder of Metalloinvest one of the largest and fastest growing mining and metallurgical holdings in Russia.
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