Nautilus Minerals Inc.: Program Update

Nautilus Minerals Inc.’s work is proceeding to plan on the world’s largest commercial exploration program for high-grade sea floor massive sulphide systems being conducted on the company’s exploration licences in territorial waters of Papua New Guinea. Nautilus has completed fieldwork for the environmental baseline study at the Solwara 1 prospect and discovered three new sea floor massive sulphide systems, which the company has called Solwara 5, 6 and 7.

David Heydon, Nautilus chief executive officer, commented, “The discovery of a further three mineralized areas so early in our program is an excellent hit rate and reinforces the prospects that we have for further discoveries within the extensive tenement and application package that Nautilus has assembled in PNG, Tonga and Fiji.”

The Solwara 5 prospect is located at latitude 3.775 degrees south, longitude 152.079 degrees east, approximately two kilometres to the northwest of the Solwara 1 prospect. Sulphide chimneys up to two metres high have been mapped, using camera and sonar instruments deployed from a remote operated vehicle, protruding from soft sediment over a strike length of 250 m and a width of 150 m. Testing of six massive sulphide samples recovered from Solwara 5 using a hand-held XRF unit (Niton XLT 592) indicates zinc mineralization is present as outlined in the accompanying table.

The Solwara 6 prospect is located at latitude 3.728 degrees south, longitude 151.681 degrees east, approximately one kilometre to the east of the Solwara 4 prospect. Sulphide chimneys up to seven m high have been mapped, using camera and sonar instruments deployed from an ROV, over a strike length of 180 m and a width of 50 to 100 m. Testing of seven massive sulphide samples recovered from Solwara 6 using a hand-held XRF unit (Niton XLT 592) indicates zinc and copper mineralization is present as outlined in the accompanying table.

The Solwara 7 prospect is located at latitude 3.717 degrees south, longitude 151.673 degrees east, approximately 700 m to the north of the Solwara 4 prospect. Sulphide chimneys up to 18 m high have been mapped, using camera and sonar instruments deployed from an ROV, over a strike length of 200 m and with a width of 50 to 100 m. Testing of eight sulphide samples recovered from Solwara 7 using a hand-held XRF unit (Niton XLT 592) provided indicates zinc and copper mineralization is present as outlined in the accompanying table.

Samples from these prospects are being processed on the exploration vessel and will be forwarded to ALS laboratories in Brisbane, Australia, where the samples will be assayed for base and precious metals. Until these results are available, a definitive statement on the grade of these prospects is not possible. It is estimated that these assays will be available in about four weeks.

Nautilus has completed an environmental-data-gathering program to provide valuable input to the preparation of its environmental impact statement at the Solwara 1 prospect. This work program was designed by Enesar Consulting, a member of the Coffey Group, and a company experienced with permitting mining operations in PNG. The work was completed using equipment deployed from an ROV with observation and sampling conducted by experts from Duke University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and CSIRO. All of the sampling objectives were met during the 30-day work program, which involved flora and fauna studies, baseline sediment sampling and water sampling.

Nautilus is also undertaking rigorous studies involving some of the world’s leading researchers to map the environment and to use this information to develop the company’s proposed mining and development plans to ensure minimal and acceptable environmental impacts from development.

Results of indicative analyses from hand-held XRF unit

Nautilus is using a hand-held X-ray florescence instrument on the Wave Mercury to obtain indications of the grade of materials recovered from the sea floor. The instrument used for this application does not provide the accuracy required to report assays. These analyses are the mean of 10-point measurements on unprepared wet surfaces of each of the samples reported. The instrument is not calibrated using certified standards and the samples have not been crushed and prepared to minimize matrix effects which may affect the accuracy of the analysis.

Prospect Sample No. Cu Zn Pb

Solwara 5 SuSu_07_rk_015 0.4 14 3.5

SuSu_07_rk_016 1.4 10 1.1

SuSu_07_rk_28 0.4 13 3.1

SuSu_07_rk_29 0.4 13 0.7

SuSu_07_rk_30 0.4 4.9 1.1

Solwara 4 Pual_07_ch_01 19 1.2 0.5

Pual_07_ch_02 0.6 31 0.7

Pual_07_ch_03 18 6.6 0.4

Pual_07_ch_04 0.5 32 1

Pual_07_ch_05 28 3.2 0.3

Pual_07_ch_06 5.7 6 2.6

Pual_07_ch_07 7.8 Bdl Bdl

Solwara 7 Pual_07_ch_11 0.2 Bdl Bdl

Pual_07_ch_12 0.3 29 3

Pual_07_ch_13 4.2 13 0.2

Pual_07_ch_14 4.2 21 0.4

Pual_07_ch_15 0.3 Bdl Bdl

Pual_07_ch_16 13 9.3 0.2

Pual_07_ch_17 2.8 25 0.3

Pual_07_ch_18 0.5 29 1.6

Exploration and environmental program

Nautilus has deployed two vessels to undertake exploration and environmental baseline studies this year over its PNG exploration licences: the 50 m vessel Aquila and the 141 m vessel Wave Mercury.

Wave Mercury

The Wave Mercury is contracted to Nautilus from Canyon Offshore, a member of the Helix Group, and a leading provider of ROVs to the offshore oil and gas industries. The vessel has two Triton 200 ROVs aboard and is capable of accommodating 65 people.

The plan (and estimated number of days required) for the Wave Mercury is to:

1) complete environmental baseline studies at the Solwara 1 prospect (30 survey days);

2) test new target areas for sulphide mineralization (30 survey days); and

3) evaluation drilling of the Solwara 1 prospect (60 to 120 survey days).

The environmental campaign commenced on March 20, 2007, and was completed on April 28, 2007. In excess of 550 biological, sediment and water samples were collected and 4,200 observations logged.

The exploration target testing program commenced on April 29, 2007, and has to date tested targets in the eastern Bismarck Sea, with further testing planned for the Bismarck Sea.

Aquila

The Aquila, which is operated by Williamson and Associates, is focused on identifying new sea floor sulphide mineralization systems by undertaking mapping and geophysical surveys of the ocean floor. A total of 4,150 line kilometres of surveying are planned for five blocks in the Bismarck and Solomon seas. To date, surveying of block 1 and 80 per cent of block 2 has been completed for a total of 1,500 line km of surveying. Targets identified by the Aquila will be followed up, where appropriate, by ROV dives from the Wave Mercury.

ROV drill

The Wave Mercury drilling program is planned to commence in mid-June and use two ROV drill units. These drills will be deployed on the sea floor using the Triton 200 ROVs on the Wave Mercury to drill holes up to 17 m deep. The first ROV drill unit has successfully completed factory acceptance testing and the second is undergoing factory acceptance testing.

Qualified person

These results have been compiled under the supervision of Anthony O’Sullivan, chief operating officer of Nautilus. Mr. O’Sullivan is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has 20 years of experience in mining and exploration geology, and is a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. He consents to his name being used in this release.