Officials at Nautilus Minerals have announced that, by contravening the Q4 arbitrator award of 2013, Papua New Guinea’s government has not completed its 30% purchase interest in the Solwara 1 Project. Accordingly, the company said, Nautilus has terminated the State Equity Option Agreement signed in Q1 2011 and will now claim damages; representatives, however, added they will seek an amicable resolution.
Nautilus is the first company to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic massive sulphide deposits. Nautilus was granted the first lease for such deposits at the Solwara 1 prospect in PNG territorial waters in a bid to produce copper, gold and silver. The company has also been granted its environmental permit.
Nautilus holds some 500,000 sq km of highly prospective exploration acreage in the western Pacific — in PNG, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga — as well as in eastern Pacific international waters. A Canadian-registered company, Nautilus has corporate offices in Brisbane, Australia.
