Key points
- The Fijian government granted Nautilus Minerals 14 special prospecting licences totaling approximately 60,000 square kilometres, each with an initial two year term.
- Under a 2007 regional area of interest agreement, Teck Resources holds the right to earn an interest in the Fijian tenements by funding exploration but has not yet said whether it will exercise that right.
- With the Fijian grant, Nautilus now holds exclusive exploration tenements covering about 230,000 square kilometres in the western Pacific and has applied for a further 370,000 square kilometres, for a total of roughly 600,000 square kilometres.
- Nautilus CEO Steve Rogers said the territory has potential to host high grade deposits of copper, zinc, silver and gold, and noted the company is developing the Solwara 1 seafloor project in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea.
Nautilus Minerals Inc. has become the first private sector organization to be granted offshore exploration licences in Fiji.
The Fijian government has granted the company 14 special prospecting licences, covering a total of approximately 60,000 square kilometres. The territory is considered highly prospective, having been the subject of marine research by Japanese, French and other scientific cruises in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The licences each have an initial term of two years.
Under the terms of a regional area of interest agreement signed with Teck Resources in 2007, Teck holds the right to earn an interest in the Fijian tenements by contributing to exploration spending. Teck has not yet indicated whether it intends to exercise that right.
Following the grant of the Fijian leases, Nautilus holds exclusive exploration tenements covering a total of approximately 230,000 square kilometres in the western Pacific, and has applied for a further 370,000 square kilometres, taking the total to approximately 600,000 square kilometres.
Nautilus’s chief executive officer, Steve Rogers, said the award of the licences was an important step forward for Nautilus and for Fiji.
“The territory is very promising and has the potential to host significant high-grade deposits of copper, zinc, silver and gold.
“Following the recent grant of exploration licences by the International Seabed Authority, the Fijian government’s decision to select Nautilus as the first private sector, commercial organization to be granted offshore exploration leases reconfirms the leading status of Nautilus in this new industry,” he said.
Nautilus is developing the world’s first deepwater seafloor resource development project at Solwara 1, in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea. The project is well advanced, with all permitting in place and construction of remote-controlled seafloor production equipment having commenced.
