Nautilus Minerals Awarded Favourable Arbitration Decision

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Oct 3, 2013) - Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX:NUS)(OTCQX:NUSMF) (the "Company" or "Nautilus") announces that the arbitrator, the Honourable Murray Gleeson AC QC has issued an award in Nautilus' favour in respect of the issues that were the subject of the Notice of Arbitration initiated by the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (the "State") (see links section for further information on the arbitration issues).

The arbitrator's award includes:

• a declaration that the State was in breach of the State Equity Option Agreement signed by the parties in March 2011 in failing to complete the purchase of a 30% interest in the Solwara 1 Project on 7 November 2011.
  
  
• an order that the State is required to comply with its obligations under the agreement to complete the purchase of the 30% interest in the Solwara 1 Project and pay 30% of all project expenditure incurred to date within a reasonable time after the award.
  
  

Nautilus has today issued the State with a notice requiring completion to occur on 23 October 2013. Nautilus estimates the total amount payable by the State at completion to be approximately US$118 million (including interest).

Under the applicable arbitration rules the arbitrator's decision is final and binding.

Nautilus looks forward to bringing the Solwara 1 Project into production and will work with the State in order to move the Project forward in light of the arbitrator's award.

The Company will hold a conference call and audio/webcast on Thursday, October 10, 2013 at 10.00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Conference Call Details

Webcast link: http://www.media-server.com/m/p/x676qyiy

Dial-in numbers:

International Dial In: +61 2 8524 5042

Australia: 1800 801 825

Canada: 1855 842 3490

United Kingdom: 0800 0150 9725

United States of America: 1855 298 3404

Attendee Passcode: 6326079

If your country dial-in number is not included here please email investor@nautilusminerals.com

A presentation to support the conference call will be posted on www.nautilusminerals.com for download by 9:30 a.m. EDT (Toronto) on Thursday, October 10, 2013.

Links

http://www.nautilusminerals.com/s/Media-NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=531977

For more information please refer to www.nautilusminerals.com.

Neither the TSX nor the OTCQX accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

About Nautilus Minerals Inc.

Nautilus is the first company to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits. Nautilus was granted the first mining lease for such deposits at the prospect known as Solwara 1, in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, where it is aiming to produce copper, gold and silver. The company has also been granted its environmental permit for this site.

Nautilus also holds approximately 500,000 km² of highly prospective exploration acreage in the western Pacific; in PNG, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga, as well as in international waters in the eastern Pacific.

A Canadian registered company, Nautilus is listed on the (TSX:NUS) stock exchange and (OTCQX:NUSMF). Its corporate office is in Brisbane, Australia. Its major shareholders include MB Holding Company LLC, an Oman based group with interests in mining, oil & gas, which holds a 28.00% interest, Metalloinvest, the largest iron ore producer in Europe and the CIS, which has a 20.75% holding and global mining group Anglo American, which holds a 5.95% interest.