New assay results confirm the high grade gold-copper-zinc mineralization of Nautilus Minerals" Solwara 5, 6 and 7 discoveries in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea.

Laboratory testing of 24 samples across the three prospects returned an average grade of 17.5 grams/tonne gold, 8.94% copper, 16.84% zinc and 298 grams/tonne silver.

Nautilus CEO David Heydon says: "The results further validate the Solwara district's prospectivity and more specifically our successful May exploration program which yielded four new prospects in four weeks.

"While the company's focus is to bring to production its first mine at Solwara 1 with production being designed around two million tonnes per annum, the additional high grade prospects provide a potential pipeline of projects which would be necessary if the company is to look at expanding production with the addition of a second mining ship or at extending the 'mine life' of a single ship operation."

Sampling was recovered using a Triton 200 series remote operated vehicle at water depths from 1650 metres to 1800 metres. Sample sizes ranged from 2kg to 200kg.

David Heydon says: "The assays are on average 16% higher for copper and 9% higher for zinc than those previously reported."

Solwara 5 Prospect is about 2km to the north-west of the Solwara 1 Prospect in a water depth of about 1650 metres. Sulphide outcrops up to 2 metres high have been mapped, using camera and sonar instruments deployed from a Remote Operated Vehicle.

Solwara 6 is about 1km to the east of the Solwara 4 Prospect in a water depth of about 1750 metres. Sulphide outcrops up to 7 metres high have been mapped over a strike length of 180 metres and a width of 50 to 100 metres.

Solwara 7 Prospect is about 700 metres to the north of Solwara 4 in a water depth of about 1800 metres. Sulphide outcrops up to 18 metres high have been mapped over a strike length of 200 metres and with a width of 50 to 100 metres.

Nautilus is the first company to commercially explore the ocean floor for high grade gold-copper-zinc-silver seafloor massive sulphide deposits and is positioned to become a world leader in underwater mineral exploration.

The company's main focus this year is the Solwara 1 Project, in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea between the island chains of New Britain and New Ireland.