After almost two years of locking horns with the Papua New Guinea government over a project ownership, Canada-based Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS) is finally free to move forward with its pioneering plan to mine the seafloor.
The company, the first yet not the only one exploring the ocean floor for polymetallic massive sulphide deposits, said in a statement that the arbitrator has ruled that Papua New Guinea breached the contract signed in March 2011 under which the country optioned to acquire 30 percent of the Solwara 1 project, located in its territorial waters in the Bismarck Sea.
As part of the deal, PNG agreed to pay its share of development costs for the mine, a clause it decided to disregard later, sending Nautilus shares downhill and jeopardizing the future of the first commercial underwater mine in the world.
The decision, however, clears up the way for Nautilus to go ahead with the project, as it requires the State to comply with its agreement obligations and so complete the purchase of the 30 percent interest in the Solwara 1. PNG will also have to pay Nautilus 30 percent of all project expenditure incurred to date, within a reasonable time after the award, the company said.
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