Nautilus Minerals Inc. announced that it has received gross proceeds of C$40 million before expenses as a result of the successful closing of its rights offering through the issuance of 200,000,000 common shares at a subscription price of C$0.20 per common share.

Under the rights offering, 125,485,507 common shares were issued under the initial subscription with 25,136,966 common shares issued under the additional subscription. In total 150,622,473 common shares were subscribed for under the rights offering representing over 75% of the total shares on offer.

Mike Johnston, Nautilus’ CEO commented “it is very encouraging to see such a high level of support for the Company from its existing shareholders.”

As previously announced, one of the Company's major shareholders, MB Holding Company LLC, through a wholly owned subsidiary, agreed to act as a Standby Purchaser in respect of the rights offering and purchased the remaining 49,377,527 common shares that were not otherwise subscribed for under the offering in consideration for a fee of C$2 million.

The net proceeds from the offering will be used by the company to continue funding its three key contracts related to the Seafloor Production System. The key contracts include the build of the Seafloor Production Tools by Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd, the supply of the Subsea Slurry Lift Pump by GE Hydril and the procurement of the rigid riser system by General Marine Contractors LLC. The company believes that continuing with these key contracts will ensure the Company is in the best possible position to advance the Solwara 1 Project following resolution of the dispute with the State of PNG. To that end, the company continues to meet with senior representatives of the State, including National Executive Council Ministers, with a view to amicably resolving the dispute as soon as possible.

The total number of issued and outstanding shares of the Company is now 436,772,865.

MB Holding Company LLC, directly and through its subsidiary Mawarid Offshore Mining Ltd, now owns 28% of the Company's shares, Metalloinvest owns 20.75% and Anglo American holds 5.95%.