Key points
- Twenty-eight surface samples from the Solwara 4 prospect averaged 13.5 g/t gold, 23.2 per cent zinc, 11.3 per cent copper and 263 g/t silver.
- Seven surface samples from Solwara 1 averaged 13.1 g/t gold and 16 per cent copper, compared with 88 previous samples averaging 15.5 g/t gold and 10.8 per cent copper.
- Both prospects sit within Nautilus’s 100-per-cent-owned exploration licence EL 1196 in Papua New Guinea’s territorial waters, with Solwara 4 located 47 kilometres west of Solwara 1.
- The company granted 235,000 options to two employees at a $2.50 strike price and 20,000 options to a contracted service provider at $2.18.
Nautilus Minerals Inc. is releasing results of a new zone of high-grade gold-silver-copper-zinc mineralization, the Solwara 4 prospect, and further high-grade copper-gold results from its Solwara 1 prospect. Both prospects are located in its 100-per-cent-owned exploration licence EL 1196 within territorial waters of Papua New Guinea.
Twenty-eight surface samples collected from Solwara 4 averaged 13.5 grams per tonnne (g/t) gold (Au), 23.2 per cent zinc (Zn), 11.3 per cent copper (Cu) and 263 g/t silver (Ag).
SOLWARA 4, ROV SAMPLING SEPTEMBER, 2006
Au Zn Cu Ag
Area n g/t % % g/t
Fenway 11 9.0 17.0 11.0 206
NE pual 1 19.0 41.1 6.2 396
Rogers ruins 2 4.8 31.8 11.0 590
Roman ruins 6 14.8 26.9 4.8 310
Satanic mills 5 18.2 11.0 23.6 113
Snowcap 2 2.8 39.5 9.7 419
Tsukushi 1 66.5 62.2 0.8 251
— —- —- —- —
Total 28 13.5 23.2 11.3 263
Note: n equals number of samples.
A further seven surface samples taken from the Solwara 1 prospect returned average grades of 13.1 g/t Au, and 16 per cent Cu. This compares well to previous sampling where 88 surface samples have averaged 15.5 g/t Au and 10.8 per cent Cu.
Additional reconnaissance sampling at two locations, approximately 1.4 kilometres and 2.5 km to the south of Solwara 1 also indicates potential for other high-grade mineralized systems.
SOLWARA 1, ROV SAMPLING SEPTEMBER, 2006
Au Zn Cu Ag
Area n g/t % % g/t
Solwara 1 7 13.1 3.9 16.0 91
SE areas 4 13.1 11.2 14.6 220
— —- —- —-
Total 11 11.5 6.4 12.7 129
David Heydon, Nautilus’s chief executive officer, comments: “The sampling of high-grade gold-copper-zinc mineralization at the Solwara 4 prospect further confirms the prospectivity of Nautilus’s groundholding in PNG to host additional high-grade copper-gold-zinc-silver mineralized systems. We are also excited by further sampling from the Solwara 1 prospect confirming the high grades returned from previous programs. These results, along with the previous reported results for the Solwara 2 and 3 prospects where 68 samples returned average grades of 10.3 g/t Au and 22.1 per cent Zn, provide Nautilus with the opportunity to build a prospect inventory to support the planned development of our flagship Solwara 1 propect.”
Located 47 kilometres west of the Solwara 1 high-grade copper-gold project, the Solwara 4 prospect comprises a cluster of seven fields of sphalerite-rich chimney sulphide, with each field of scattered chimneys up to 250 metres long and 150 m wide in outcrop. These sulphide chimney outcrops occur at fracture zones in variably altered dacite and rhyodacite lavas of the Manus Back Arc basin.
Sampling was completed during the second 24-day phase of a collaborative exploration project with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution using the Scripps Institute Vessel Melville to deploy the remote-operated vehicle JASON and autonomous underwater vehicle ABE. In total 39 samples were collected for Nautilus during the second phase by JASON and detailed bathymetric and geophysical data were collected by ABE.
The company has granted a total of 235,000 options to two employees of the company at a strike price of $2.50 and 20,000 options to a key contracted service provider at a strike price of $2.18. These options have a term of three years vesting as to 20 per cent every six months for a period of 30 months starting six months after the date of grant.
