The world's first seafloor copper-gold project, Solwara 1, is under development in Papua New Guinea. Utilising technologies from the offshore oil and gas, dredging and mining industries, the project will mark the launch of this new deep water seafloor resource production industry.
The Company plans to grow its tenement licences and exploration applications in the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand both regionally and across the world.
Listed on the Toronto (TSX) and London (AIM) exchanges, Nautilus has among its cornerstone shareholders three of the world's largest resource companies and its alliances and technical partnerships position it as the world leader in deep water exploration and development of minerals systems
Press Release Source: Nautilus Minerals Inc. On Friday July 22, 2011, 8:31 am
BeantwoordenVerwijderenVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--
- Nautilus Minerals' (TSX:NUS - News; AIM:NUS) Tongan subsidiary, Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd. ("TOML"), has become one of the first private sector organizations to be granted exploration licences in the highly prospective Clarion Clipperton Zone ("CCZ") of the Eastern Pacific.
Sponsored by the Tongan Government, TOML has been granted approximately 75,000 km(2) of prime exploration territory in the CCZ, which lies in international waters between Hawaii and Mexico.
As a result of exploration conducted in the 1980s, the CCZ is known to host significant deposits of polymetallic nodules, which are golf ball sized nuggets, rich in copper, nickel, manganese and cobalt, lying on the seafloor in water depths starting at 4500 metres.
The International Seabed Authority, which is the organization responsible for administering activity on the seafloor in international territory, made the historic decision to grant the TOML licence at its annual meeting in Jamaica this week. The licence is for an initial period of 15 years.
Nautilus CEO Steve Rogers said the award of the exploration permit presented exciting opportunities for the long term growth and expansion of the company.
"At Nautilus, with our first project at Solwara 1 in the Bismarck Sea, we are adapting technologies to access seafloor mineral resources in water depths of 1600 metres. Ultimately, we intend to seek to establish the capacity to expand operations to undertake larger scale projects envisaged in the deeper waters of the CCZ.
"Nautilus is pleased to be at the forefront of development, working with industry and the scientific community to establish methodologies and processes to develop these significant resources in ways that are socially and environmentally responsible," he said.
The ISA previously has awarded eight exploration permits to government entities for polymetallic nodule exploration, but has not previously granted licences to private sector organizations. TOML's application for exploration permits represented "a new milestone in the life of the (International Seabed) Authority," according to ISA Secretary General Nii Allotey Odunton.
Varende goudmijn; sterke woordkeuze :-).
BeantwoordenVerwijderenCare to explain? Alvast bedankt!
Hendrik,
BeantwoordenVerwijderende titel spreekt voor zichzelf, maar heeft hopelijk en waarschijnlijk een dubbele betekenis.
Gaat me niet zozeer om de titel. Altijd eigen onderzoek doen, maar bevindingen van mede-beleggers zijn altijd welkom (en wat ik mooi vind aan dit forum).
BeantwoordenVerwijderenVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 15, 2011) - Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX:NUS - News; AIM:NUS) achieved a series of important operational milestones in its pioneering seafloor production project during the first six months of 2011, and ended the period with a healthy cash balance of US$112 million.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThe highlights of the half-year were as follows:
-- In January, the PNG Government granted Nautilus a Mining Lease to enable production at the company's first development project at Solwara 1, in the Bismarck Sea. The lease provides Nautilus with a 20 year license to mine an area of approximately 59 km(2) surrounding Solwara 1, 50 km north of Rabaul, where Nautilus intends to mine high-grade copper and gold deposits on the seafloor, at depths of approximately 1600 metres.
(For the full release see Links section below)
-- In March, the PNG Government confirmed its intention to take a 30% stake in the Solwara 1 project as a joint venture partner. The Government will contribute funds to the project in proportion to its interest, including
its share of the exploration and development costs incurred to date. The
initial contribution to be made by the Government's nominee, Petromin
PNG Holdings Limited, will be approximately US$24 million. The audit of the final amount has recently been completed with payment to be made in
accordance with detailed project agreements being finalised by the
parties.
-- In April, the company announced an agreement to form a joint venture
with German shipping company Harren & Partner, to own and operate a
production support vessel which will serve as the operational base for
Nautilus at Solwara 1. Under the terms of the strategic partnership,
Harren will design and construct the vessel at a cost of approximately
EUR127 million, with delivery scheduled for the first half of 2013.
-- And in May, the company completed a major exploration drilling campaign
in the Bismarck Sea, which has delivered an enhanced understanding of
the Solwara 1 deposit and identified potential subsequent development sites.
Since the end of the first half, the company has also announced two major advances in exploration.
2)
BeantwoordenVerwijderen-- Nautilus Minerals' Tongan subsidiary, Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd. (TOML), became one of the first private sector organisations to be granted
exploration licences in the highly prospective Clarion Clipperton Zone
(CCZ) of the Eastern Pacific in July. Sponsored by the Tongan
Government, TOML was granted approximately 75,000 km(2) of prime
exploration territory in the CCZ, which lies in international waters
between Hawaii and Mexico. As a result of exploration conducted in the
1980s, the CCZ is known to host hundreds of millions of tonnes of
polymetallic nodules, rich in copper, nickel, manganese and cobalt,
lying on the seafloor in water depths starting at 4500 metres.
-- The Fijian government this month granted Nautilus 14 special prospecting
licences in its territorial waters, covering a total of approximately
60,000 km(2)of highly prospective territory. Nautilus is the first
private sector organisation to be granted offshore exploration permits
in Fiji.
Following the continued extensive investment in the development phase of the Solwara 1 project during the six months to June, the company today announced a first half loss of US$7.98 million, which was significantly reduced from US$18.75 million in the six months to June 2010.
The reduction in losses was largely a result of the company capitalising exploration and evaluation expenditure at Solwara 1 following receipt of the Mining Lease in January.
The net cash position remained strong at US$112 million at the end of the period, following additional investment of US$42 million in plant & equipment and mineral properties during the six months.
"Nautilus made excellent progress in the first half of 2011, achieving a number of important milestones," said CEO Steve Rogers.
"Our financial position remains healthy and strong global commodity prices continue to enhance the business proposition. Significant value has been added over recent months as our exploration programs have yielded encouraging results, and we have gained additional highly prospective exploration territory in Fiji and International waters.
"We look forward to the delivery of components for our seafloor production equipment and the announcement of a resource update in the second half of the year," he said.
Seabed rare earth and precious metal mining
BeantwoordenVerwijderen8/23/2011 8:19:06 AM | Justin Dove,
Japan began changing its laws to pave the way for seabed mining back in March
Rising prices in precious metals and China’s monopoly in rare earth elements are leading to creativity and innovation in mining.
For instance, Japan reported last month that they found extremely rich deposits of rare earth minerals on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean. In the map below, the rich deposits of rare earth elements and yttrium are shown to be numerous throughout the Pacific.
“The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just one square kilometer (0.4 square miles) of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption,” said Yasuhiro Kato, Associate Professor of Earth Science at the University of Tokyo.
Nautilus gained mining privileges in PNG in January and contracted German ship builder Harren and Partner to build a mining ship. The company is set to begin operations in 2013 and is expects “to produce 1.2 million metric tons of ore a year.”
“I don’t think there’s a view that we’re running out of copper or there’s a scarcity but I think there’s a view that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to develop on land,” Nautilus COO Anthony O’Sullivan told Bloomberg.
According to the Bloomberg report, the current average grade of land copper deposits is “0.6 percent, dropping from about one percent in 1990.” That compares to a 6.5 percent copper grade found in the seabed.
Seabed mining investment opportunities
Most of the companies involved in seabed mining are either private or foreign…
There’s Paris-based Technip, which owns patents in the methodology of deep-sea mining.
Harren and Partners, which makes the ship Nautilus will use, is based in Germany.
2(
BeantwoordenVerwijderenNautilus founder and former CEO David Heydon left the company in 2008 to start DeepGreen Resources. DeepGreen’s Clipperton copper and nickel project is much more ambitious than Nautilus’. It will likely cost billions, but Heydon believes he can mine up to 60,000 metric tons of nickel and 50,000 metric tons of copper per year for more than 30 years. DeepGreen Resources is Canadian based and private. It’s rumored to go public this fall, however, probably only on a Canadian exchange.
Neptune Minerals is a Nevada-based private company started in January that looks to pursue offshore mining opportunities in the future. It recently acquired control of companies from Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.
Nautilus Minerals is a public company, but it’s traded on the Toronto and London stock exchanges.
Is rare earth seabed excitement premature?
It may be a bit premature to get too excited about seabed mining. For instance, Popular Mechanics and Resource Investor both featured articles doubting the viability of the rare earth extraction.
But mining for precious metals in relatively shallow waters doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
After all, DeBeers and other diamond miners have been mining diamonds off the coast of Namibia since the 1960s.
Developments in seabed mining will be interesting to follow over the next few years.
And if Nautilus can achieve profitability from its endeavor in 2013, there will surely be copycats. Who knows, it may even lead to a modern gold rush under the ocean.
Nautilus to raise $100 mln for offshore copper project
BeantwoordenVerwijderenWed Aug 31, 2011 12:58pm EDT
* Metalloinvest, Anglo American to buy shares, maintain stake
* Muscat mining group to take 10 pct stake
Aug 31 (Reuters) - Canada's Nautilus Minerals said it plans to issue shares to raise about $100 million to fund the development of its flagship copper project, off the coast of Papua New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean.
The Toronto-listed company plans to issue about 39 million shares priced at C$2.52 each to fund the development of its flagship Solwara 1 copper-gold project, it said in a statement.
Nautilus' top shareholder, iron ore producer Metalloinvest Holding (Cyprus) Ltd will buy shares so that it keeps its 21 percent stake in the company, while British miner Anglo American will also buy shares to keep its 11 percent stake.
Mawarid Mining LLC, a unit of Muscat-based mining and processing group MB Holding Company LLC, will buy shares worth about $50.1 million to take a 9.98 percent stake in the company, Nautilus said.
Nautilus had $112 million cash reserves as of the end of June and its joint venture partner, Petromin PNG Holdings Ltd -- created by the State of Papua New Guinea to hold the state's assets -- also contributes funds.
That along with the net proceeds of the placement is expected to fund the development of the offshore component of the mining venture, Nautilus said.
They were trading up about 1 percent at C$2.83 in afternoon after resuming trade at 12:30 ET on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They have gained 24 percent so far this year.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
commentaar: de nieuwe aandelen 'verkopen zichzelf' aan een aantal 'grote jongens'.
Geld ophalen is dus voor NUS geen enkel probleem.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
BeantwoordenVerwijderenNautilus Closes C$27.6 million Final Tranche of Private Placement
--------------------------------------
Vancouver, British Columbia, October 6, 2011 - Nautilus Minerals Inc has received gross proceeds of C$27.6 million from the issue of the second tranche of shares forming the final part of the private placement announced in August.
A total of 10,940,004 shares was issued today in the second tranche at the issue price of C$2.52 per share.
The shares formed part of a total capital raising of C$98.1 million, before expenses, involving the issue of approximately 39 million shares. The first tranche of approximately 28 million shares was issued on September 8, 2011.
Application has been made to the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange for the second tranche of shares to be admitted to trading on October 7, 2011. The shares also will be listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Further details of the private placement are available on the Nautilus website: http://www.nautilusminerals.com/s/Media-NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=476612
About Nautilus Minerals Inc.
Nautilus is the first company to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits and is developing its first project at Solwara 1, in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, where it is aiming to produce gold, copper and silver. The company has been granted all necessary environmental and mining permits.
Nautilus also holds approximately 600,000 square kilometers of highly prospective exploration acreage in the western Pacific, in PNG, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga, as well as in international waters in the eastern Pacific.
A Canadian registered company, Nautilus is listed on the TSX and AIM stock exchanges and has its corporate office in Brisbane, Australia. Its major shareholders include Metalloinvest, the largest commercial iron ore producer in Europe and the CIS, which has a 21% holding, and global mining group Anglo American, which holds an 11% interest.
Friday, November 11, 2011
BeantwoordenVerwijderenNautilus Reports Solid Third Quarter Results
---------------------------------------
Vancouver, British Columbia, Nov 11, 2011 - Nautilus Minerals Inc continued to make steady progress in the development of its pioneering seafloor copper/gold project in the September quarter of 2011, and remains on track to commence production in the final quarter of 2013.
The company completed the quarter with a cash balance of US$155.1 million, after successfully raising C$70.5 million in the first tranche of a C$98.1 million capital raising. The final tranche of C$27.6 million was received in October. The capital raising involved the issue of approximately 39 million shares at C$2.52 per share.
The funds raised are being used for the construction of a seafloor resource production system, which initially will be deployed at the Solwara 1 project in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea - the company's first deepwater copper and gold project.
As a result of the successful financing, the Board of Nautilus formally sanctioned the Solwara 1 project.
During the quarter, we continued to work with the PNG Government and Petromin, to finalise contracts and financing arrangements for its 30% holding in the Solwara 1 project.
Project development gathered pace during the quarter, leading to an increase in investment. Net cash invested for the nine months to the end of September totaled US$56.6 million, compared with US$36.4 million at the end of June, with the increase mainly due to purchase of plant and equipment. The loss for the period was US$11.4 million, reflecting the fact that that the company remains in the development phase, and has not yet commenced revenue-generating operations.
2)
BeantwoordenVerwijderenDuring the quarter, the following project milestones were achieved:
A number of component procurement packages for the riser and associated handling equipment have been awarded, including the main riser system.
All major long lead items for the vessel and the seafloor production tools are now being ordered.
Factory acceptance testing was undertaken for sub-sea motors, and since September, factory acceptance testing of the main cutting drum for the Bulk Cutter has been completed. The Bulk Cutter is one of three production machines to be utilized on the seafloor.
Scale testing of various key components of the production system, including the sub-sea slurry lift pump and the suction device to be used on the seafloor production machines, was successfully concluded.
Design of the PSV continued in Germany, with model testing completed. Nautilus has agreed to form a joint venture with Harren & Partner to own and operate the PSV, which will serve as the operational base at Solwara 1. The laying of the keel for the vessel is scheduled for late December, 2011, with vessel delivery scheduled for the first quarter of 2013.
In exploration, Nautilus continued to analyse the results of its Bismarck Sea drilling campaign completed in May, with a view to updating the company's NI43-101 resource through an independent report in preparation by Golder and Associates by year end. The drill program is expected to lead to a significantly enhanced understanding of Solwara 1 geology.
During the quarter, the company also became one of the first private sector organisations to be granted exploration licences in international waters. Nautilus' Tongan subsidiary, Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd, was granted approximately 75,000 km2 of prime exploration territory in the Clarion Clipperton Zone, which lies in international waters between Hawaii and Mexico. As a result of exploration conducted in the 1980s and 90's, the CCZ is known to host significant quantities of polymetallic nodules, containing copper, nickel, manganese and cobalt, lying on the seafloor in water depths starting at 4500 metres.
In addition, in August, Nautilus was granted 14 special prospecting licences in Fijian territorial waters, covering approximately 60,000 km2. Nautilus is the first private sector organisation to be granted offshore exploration permits for deep sea minerals in Fiji.
"The September quarter saw further solid progress in the development of the world's first seafloor resource production project at Solwara 1," said Nautilus CEO Steve Rogers.
"Construction of key components is now advancing rapidly, and our seafloor production equipment is beginning to take shape. We are on track to meet our schedules, and our financial position remains secure following the capital raising in the quarter.
"Our exploration team continues to gather important information to assist us in building our project pipeline." he said.
Friday, November 25, 2011
BeantwoordenVerwijderenNautilus Increases Mineral Resources
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vancouver, British Columbia, Nov 25, 2011 -- A successful exploration drilling campaign conducted at Nautilus Minerals' tenements in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea has enabled the company to increase the resource estimate at its Solwara 1 project, and to declare a maiden Inferred Resource at the nearby Solwara 12 deposit.
The key features of the resource update, prepared by independent consultant Golder Associates Pty Ltd in accordance with National Instrument NI 43-101, and stated at a copper equivalent cut-off grade of 2.6%, are as follows:
The company's total Indicated Resources have increased 18% to 1.03 million tonnes.
Total Inferred Resources have risen 36% to 1.8 million tonnes.
Contained copper in Indicated Resource at Solwara 1 has increased 25% to approximately 74,000 tonnes.
Contained copper in Inferred Resource at Solwara 1 has increased 28% to approximately 125,000 tonnes.
Contained gold in Indicated Resource at Solwara 1 has increased 23% to approximately 166,000 ounces.
Contained gold in Inferred Resource at Solwara 1 has increased 5% to approximately 317,000 ounces.
A maiden Inferred Resource has been declared at Solwara 12, 25 km to the north-west of Solwara 1, of 230,000 tonnes, grading 7.3% copper and 3.6 g/t gold.
The increases in contained metal within the resource are a result of additional tonnes, and importantly, higher grades, due to successful resource drilling which identified further high grade ore zones. The increase in tonnes was also partly due to a reduction in the cut-off grade from 4% copper, used in the prior 2008 resource statement, to a copper equivalent cut-off grade of 2.6% in the 2011 resource, following refinements in the project design.
Nautilus Minerals President and CEO Steve Rogers said the notable increase in the company's resource base demonstrated the success of the exploration campaign, extending the life of the Solwara 1 Project and delivering an improved knowledge of the Bismarck Sea geology.
"Importantly, the declaration of a maiden resource at Solwara 12 begins the process of building a pipeline of projects for Nautilus in the region, and confirms the prospectivity of the Bismarck Sea, where we have identified another 16 prospects for further evaluation.
"Nautilus will attempt to build on this base in the coming year, through on-going exploration activities in PNG and elsewhere in the western Pacific," Mr Rogers said.
"Nautilus will be undertaking important work including the use of multi-beam sonar and seismic exploration tools in the Bismarck Sea over the coming months to assist in identifying targets for drilling, scheduled to be conducted in the second half of next year.
"As part of that program we will be testing for additional lenses of high grade material in the vicinity of Solwara 1, while the limits of Solwara 12 have yet to be fully identified," he said.
Nautilus Minerals Signs Landmark Offtake Agreement for Solwara 1
BeantwoordenVerwijderenPress Release: Nautilus Minerals Inc. – 1 hour 40 minutes ago
Symbol Price Change
NUS.TO 2.23 0.00
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 23, 2012) - Nautilus Minerals Inc. ("Nautilus" or the "Company") (TSX:NUS.TO - News)(AIM:NUS.L - News) today announced it has signed a binding heads of agreement with Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co. Ltd ("Tongling") for the sale of the product extracted from the Company 's Solwara 1 deposit located in the Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea ("PNG").
The agreement provides for the purchase by Tongling of 1.1 million tonnes per annum (subject to +/- 20% variation) of Solwara 1 material for a period of three years on a take or pay basis, commencing upon the first delivery of product from Solwara 1, targeted in Q4 2013 in accordance with a notification mechanism and includes an option to agree an extension of the arrangement.
"The quality of this relationship with China's largest importer of copper concentrates provides further evidence that there is considerable interest in the high grade massive sulphides being found by the emerging seafloor resource production industry," said Nautilus CEO Stephen Rogers.
The material will be imported into China by Tongling and then processed through its facilities in the city of Tongling alongside the Yangtze River. After production of a copper concentrate it will be smelted in Tongling's industrial complex. The purchase price to be paid by Tongling will be based on the quality of the copper concentrate produced.
The agreement includes a mechanism for an early payment of 90% of the price upon loading of the export vessel in PNG. Final payment is based on the recovery of copper, gold and silver reporting to the copper concentrate with deductions for capped logistics and processing costs, smelter treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs), allowances for plant fixed capital recoveries and Tongling's tolling fee on concentrator plant processing costs. TC/RCs are based on Asian International benchmarks with a premium payable for the achievement of target metal recoveries.
The price payable for all metals will be set by the London Metal Exchange (LME) for copper and London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) for silver and gold with the initial payment for all metals based on the average of the month preceding the shipment and final payment on a four month Quotational Period.
Further value may be realised through a 50%/50% profit sharing scheme based on incremental by-product revenue realised in China, including gold bearing pyrite. Material from the process can be roasted in China to produce gold and sulphuric acid and the remaining calcine may be sold to cement manufacturers or as iron ore fines. With minimal waste Tongling's process brings significant benefits consistent with Nautilus' commitment to minimise environmental impacts.
The Company will issue a bank guarantee to Tongling in three stages over nine months, which will not exceed approximately US$11.5 million, as a security for 50% of Tongling's concentrator investment costs commencing at the first order of major equipment.
Nautilus CEO Stephen Rogers said the Company was looking forward to working with Tongling to realise the full potential of the high grade material extracted from Solwara 1. "We have now closed the value chain on the project, established our first customer for seafloor massive sulphides and look forward to building a long term relationship with Tongling," he said.
Nautilus is currently progressing the build of equipment, including the Seafloor Production Tools and Production Support Vessel (as those terms are used in the Company's Annual Information Form), for the Solwara 1 Project.
Nautilus Dispute With the State of PNG
BeantwoordenVerwijderenPress Release: Nautilus Minerals Inc. – Fri, Jun 1, 2012 10:03 AM EDT
Symbol Price Change
NUS.TO 1.48 0.07
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - June 1, 2012) - Nautilus Minerals (NUS.TO - News)(NUSMF - News)(NUS.L - News) advises that it is in dispute with the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (the State) as to the parties' obligations to complete the Agreement entered into on 29 March 2011. Nautilus has initiated the dispute resolution process provided for in the Agreement, which may lead to a referral of the dispute to arbitration if it can not be resolved through further discussions amongst senior representatives of the parties over an initial 10 day period.
The State exercised its option under the Agreement to acquire a 30% interest in the Solwara 1 Project through its nominee, a subsidiary of Petromin PNG Holdings Limited . However, the State asserts that Nautilus has not met certain obligations on which completion is dependent, and that Nautilus has breached the Agreement. Nautilus refutes these assertions.
As previously disclosed, under the Agreement the State's nominee (Petromin subsidiary) must pay (among other amounts) its share of costs incurred in the development of the Project up to completion to acquire its Project interest (see links section for full press release). Unless and until the dispute is resolved, completion will be delayed or may not occur and Nautilus must continue to carry these costs. This may lead to Nautilus needing to slow or defer the build program for Project equipment, which would have consequential impacts on the scheduled commencement of operations and overall Project costs.
Nautilus will provide a further update, including as to any slowing or deferral of the build program, in due course following any further developments.
Conference Call
A Conference Call and Webcast will be held next week, details of which will be provided in due course.
Links
http://www.nautilusminerals.com/s/Media-NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=449316&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=PNG-Government-Confirms-Investment-in-Solwara-1
About Nautilus Minerals Inc.
Nautilus is the first company to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits and is developing its first project at Solwara 1, in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea , where it is aiming to produce copper, gold and silver. The company has been granted all necessary environmental and mining permits.
Nautilus also holds approximately 600,000 km2 of highly prospective exploration acreage in the western Pacific; in PNG, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga, as well as in international waters in the eastern Pacific.
A Canadian registered company, Nautilus is listed on the TSX:NUS and AIM:NUS stock exchanges and OTCQX: NUSMF. Its corporate office is in Brisbane, Australia. Its major shareholders include Metalloinvest, the largest iron ore producer in Europe and the CIS, which has a 21% holding, global mining group Anglo American, which holds an 11% interest and MB Holdings, an Oman based group with interests in mining, oil & gas, which holds a 9.98% interest.
Nautilus dispute with Papua New Guinea authorities threatening underwater mining future
BeantwoordenVerwijderenCecilia Jamasmie | June 18, 2012
Canada-based Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX:NUS)(OTCQX:NUSMF)(AIM:NUS) said Monday that despite several meetings with Papua New Guinea's government representatives in the last two weeks, the company is still battling authorities in regards to its obligation to complete the agreement reached in March last year for its Nautilus Solwara 1 copper project.
The company, the first to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits, initiated the legal battle on June 1, when it warned that its Solwara 1 copper project could be delayed or cancelled because of the dispute.
The country optioned to acquire 30% of the Solwara 1 project, located in its territorial waters in the Bismarck Sea, last year and, as part of the agreement, Papua New Guinea have to pay its share of development costs for the mine.
Not long ago, the future looked promising for Nautilus. In late April, the company announced it had signed China's Tongling Non-ferrous Metals Group as the first customer of its pioneering Papua New Guinean sea-floor mine.
The project, in the minerals-rich Manus basin of PNG's Bismarck Sea, is claimed by Nautilus as the world's first commercial sea-floor mine, and is slated to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Nautilus shares fell over 11% in the Toronto Stock Exchange after the announcement, closing at 1.47.
wo 11 jul 2012, 06:30
BeantwoordenVerwijderenGoud blinkt ook in de zee
door Sameer van Alfen
AMSTERDAM - De wereldvraag naar goud blijft onverminderd groot. Terwijl de bronnen op het land verder uitgeput raken. Een aantal ’goudcowboys’ heeft zijn zoekgebied daarom verplaatst naar de zeebodem, die ook een schat aan edelmetalen bevat. Hoewel de eerste goudklompen nog naar boven moeten komen, zijn deskundigen positief. „De techniek is er. Het is een kwestie van tijd voordat het eerste goud van de zeebodem wordt gehaald.”
Dat er op de zeebodem een grote hoeveelheid goud, zilver en koper ligt, daar zijn vriend en vijand het inmiddels wel over eens. „Het gaat om afzettingen die rond scheuren in de aardkorst ontstaan”, zegt Cees van Rhee, hoogleraar baggertechnologie aan de TU Delft. „Een proces waarbij water, magma en hoge druk aan te pas komen. Grond op de zeebodem is veel rijker aan edelmetaal dan grond op land.”
Volgens van Rhee staat het winnen van goud uit de zee nog in de kinderschoenen. Er zijn maar een paar entrepreneurs actief die hier onderzoek naar doen. „Een van de bekendste spelers is Nautilus Minerals in Toronto. De onderneming heeft een concessie op zak om in de territoriale wateren van Papoea-Nieuw-Guinea goud te delven.”
De techniek hiervoor was tot voorkort nog niet beschikbaar, weet de hoogleraar. „Maar ontwikkelingen in de olie- en gasindustrie hebben de mogelijkheden vergroot. In deze tak van sport zijn de afgelopen jaren op steeds grotere dieptes grondstoffen gewonnen. Met deze kennis doet de goudsector nu zijn voordeel.”
Zie voor het volledige artikel De Telegraaf-krant.
DeepGreen strikes deal with Glencore for undersea mining metals
BeantwoordenVerwijderenPeter Koven Jun 15, 2012 – 5:51 PM ET
The world’s largest commodity trader has endorsed speculative undersea mining as a handful of entrepreneurs continue to try to put the industry on the map.
Vancouver-based DeepGreen Resources Inc. has struck a deal with Glencore International Inc. under which the commodity giant agreed to buy 50% of the nickel and copper DeepGreen plans to produce from a seafloor project located west of Mexico.
DeepGreen is a private company founded by David Heydon, the man who built industry leader Nautilus Minerals Inc. and kick-started the underwater mining business. He has planned to take DeepGreen public in Toronto for more than a year, and Glencore’s commitment is a potential catalyst to attract investors to an IPO. The offering has already been delayed because of weak market conditions.
Mr. Heydon views the Glencore deal as evidence that DeepGreen — and seafloor mining as a whole — need to be taken seriously.
“There are hundreds of mining companies on the TSX, but how many of them have offtake agreements with majors? You can draw some conclusions from that,” he said in an interview.
The Glencore news comes just as the seafloor industry hits a major speed bump.
Nautilus was making good progress on its Solwara 1 project until two weeks ago, when it shocked investors with two pieces of bad news: a legal dispute with the government of Papua New Guinea, and funding problems related to its main vessel. The stock plunged 50% over the next two trading days, though it has recovered since then.
There are many skeptical investors that have watched this industry with interest, but won’t believe in it until a project comes to fruition. The Nautilus setbacks appeared to confirm many of their fears. Nautilus planned to enter production next year until its recent problems left the timeline up in the air.
Mr. Heydon raised more than US$360-million in his time at Nautilus, but that company’s plans are child’s play compared to what he hopes to do with DeepGreen’s Clipperton project. He envisions a gigantic, multi-billion-dollar operation producing 60,000 tonnes of nickel, 50,000 tonnes of copper and 1.3 million tonnes of manganese a year. The nickel output alone would place it among the largest producers of that metal.
“It’s a massive project and will produce a lot of metal,” Mr. Heydon said.
Financing will obviously be a major hurdle for this project. Mr. Heydon and partner Peter Barnes (formerly of Silver Wheaton Corp.) plan to re-visit an IPO late this year or early next year. In the meantime, the company has been raising money privately. Mr. Heydon expects that DeepGreen will need US$200-million over the next four years to complete trial mining and a demonstration plant, though how the company raises capital will depend on market conditions.
While the Clipperton project represents a speculative new frontier for the mining industry, it is actually an old project. A consortium of mining companies did some work on it in the 1970s to prove it could be mined. But they could not get title to the deposit, located in international waters.
Nautilus Minerals Discovers More High Grade Systems in Tonga
BeantwoordenVerwijderenPress Release: Nautilus Minerals Inc. – 37 minutes ago
Symbol Price Change
NUS.TO 0.73 0.03
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov 1, 2012) - Nautilus Minerals Inc. (NUS.TO)(NUSMF)(NUS.L) (the "Company" or "Nautilus Minerals") is pleased to announce the discovery of two (2), high grade, Seafloor Massive Sulfide ("SMS") systems on its wholly owned exploration tenements in the territorial waters of the Kingdom of Tonga ("Tonga").
Grab samples from these discoveries assayed up to 11.9% copper, 59.8% zinc, 28.6 g/t gold and 673 g/t silver.
Mike Johnston, Nautilus Minerals'' CEO commented, "These discoveries further highlight the prospectivity of our Tongan exploration tenements, particularly the high precious metal grades we continue to encounter in the NE Lau Basin. They will be added to the 17 SMS systems, as previously reported on our Tongan prospecting licenses*, which are being considered for further evaluation."
The SMS systems were sampled during an 18 day marine scientific research cruise between the 9th and 26th of September 2012. The samples were collected as a part of a broader research effort in the NE Lau Basin.
Links:
Figure 1: http://www.nautilusminerals.com/i/map/PR_Tonga_NELauBasin_Sept12.png
Figure 2: http://www.nautilusminerals.com/i/map/PR_Tonga_FonualeiSamples.png
Figure 3: http://www.nautilusminerals.com/i/map/PR_Tonga_NorthernMataSamples.png
* Jankowski 2012: "Nautilus Minerals Incorporated, NI43-101 Technical Report 2011, PNG, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, New Zealand, Vanuatu and the ISA" http://www.nautilusminerals.com/i/pdf/NAT008_Nautilus_NI_43-101_Technical_Report_2011.pdf
Nautilus rockets 27% as investors speculate on what's next for seabed mining
BeantwoordenVerwijderenFrik Els | December 11, 2012
Nautilus Minerals (TSX/AIM:NUS) shot up 26.8% to $0.355 in heavy volumes on Monday as investors speculated about the future of the embattled company after it decided to stop working on specialized seabed mining equipment for its Papua New Guinea gold-silver-copper project.
"We were paying for it all ourselves and it was becoming too costly," Mike Johnston, interim president and CEO Johnston told SciDev.Net. "We were at an expensive stage of the build. We were spending US$3 million or US$4 million a week. For a company of our size, we couldn't continue to pay for that ourselves."
The Toronto-based company has run into serious troubles at its flagship project off the Papua New Guinea coast, most recently with the departure of a long-time CEO, layoffs and a petition landowners sent to the PNG government to cancel the firm’s seabed mining permit.
The company's Solwara project – what would be the world's first seabed mine – is already half built and was slated to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2013, but a dispute with the PNG government over ownership and funding issues with its partners building a surface vessel for the operation have the put the project on ice.
Shareholders in Nautilus – even after today's jump worth only $84 million on the Toronto big board – have seen the value of their investments evaporate by more than 80% since the company initiated a legal battle on June 1 over the copper-gold-silver project in the Bismarck Sea and the troubles with its German shipbuilders.
Nautilus also owns vast exploration tracts in the central Pacific Ocean and in September announced it has found nodules that occur in 4,000 and 6,000 meter deep waters that contain significant grades of manganese, nickel, copper and cobalt.
Nautilus said at the time the regulatory framework the International Seabed Authority has put in place since 1994 and what the company terms "reduced social disturbance" due to the nature of deep water mining versus "large land based resource developments" counts heavily in favour of this project, to be managed through a 100%-owned Tonga subsidiary.
Nautilus bid reaffirmed by Bailey but doubts remain
BeantwoordenVerwijderenby Mike Foley — created Jan 10, 2013 01:22 PM
Private Canadian investor Michael Bailey responded to speculation that his sensational announcement of a hostile takeover bid for subsea explorer Nautilus Mineral was a hoax. However, significant questions remain. Mike Foley reports.
Nautilus bid reaffirmed by Bailey but doubts remain
Bailey, speaking to AJM today, says his offer is genuine. The deal stands and is backed by “offshore funds”. He said “I am just waiting to hear back from [Nautilus’ chief executive and chairman] Michael Johnston.”
However, Nautilus says it is yet to receive an official offer. Two law firms cited as Bailey’s legal representatives in the bidding process have either denied or refused to confirm their involvement.
Undeterred, Bailey reiterated and bolstered his takeover bid in a fresh statement to the Marketwatch.com website today, claiming he has engaged Nautilus’ former chief scientific advisor, Robbert Gooden [sic], as interim chairman.
Robert Goodden, chairman of UK consultancy Subsea Minerals, has a technical advisory role in Nautilus Minerals and consults for several other marine mining companies.
Bailey told the AJM Goodden brings experience in developing subsea mining equipment, which will be vital in getting Nautilus’ stalled Solwara 1 project in PNG off the ground.
Bailey’s first press release drew suspicion by citing a law firm that contradicted Bailey’s claim it was involved in his takeover bid.
Canadian law firm Fasken Martineau denied to the Australian Financial Review that it was a representative for the bid.
However, Bailey’s latest release nominates Vancouver-based Bacchus Law as his new advisor. The firm, citing commercial ethics, would neither confirm nor deny its involvement at the time of writing.
The family office controlled solely by Michael Bailey is offering $0.97 CAD per share in Nautilus for an aggregate purchase price of $237.99 million CAD. Nautilus’ share price is currently $0.58CAD.
Gannibal Securities, a small Canadian financial firm, has been engaged to act as Bailey’s advisor. In fact, Bailey himself answers the phones at Gannibal’s offices.
Nautilus’ major shareholders include Metalloinvest (21.0%), Anglo American(11.1%), MB Resources(16.9%) and Teck Resources(4.5%). Bailey is understood to hold a stake of less than 10%.
Bailey told the AJM he is confident in his plans to kickstart the beleaguered Solwara 1 project, which has stalled on a lack of funding. Nautilus claims that the PNG Government, which holds a 30% stake in the company, has failed to deliver its funding obligations, totalling $51.5m. The Government disputes the claim and is yet to deliver funding.
Bailey said he can kick start commissioning in the near future, should his takeover bid be successful.
We have the financing for this ready to get [commissioning] going. Nautilus has $90m in cash, but is deciding to sit on it for reasons that are unknown to me.
“My goal for the PNG government is to offer some royalty for what they have done so far and require no further investment from them.”