Nautilus Issues Options and Loan Shares

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 6, 2011) - Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX:NUS)(AIM:NUS) has granted 900,000 options and issued 200,000 loan shares to non-executive directors as their full remuneration for 2011.

The options and loan shares were granted under the Company's Stock Option Plan and Share Loan Plan which were approved by shareholders and limit the total number of shares under the two plans to a combined maximum of 10% of the Company's issued capital.

The details regarding the options granted under the Stock Option Plan are as follows:

The details regarding the loan shares issued under the Share Loan Plan are as follows:

About Nautilus Minerals Inc.

Nautilus is the first company to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits and is currently developing its first development project at Solwara 1, in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, where the company is aiming to produce gold, copper and silver. The company has been granted all necessary environmental and mining permits.

Nautilus is intending to commence operations at the Solwara 1 deposit, where it has defined an NI 43-101 resource as follows:

• Indicated Mineral Resource: 870 kt @ 6.8% Cu, 4.8 g/t Au, 23 g/t Ag, 0.4% Zn.
• Inferred Mineral Resource: 1,300 kt @ 7.5% Cu, 7.2 g/t Au, 37 g/t Ag, 0.8% Zn.

The news release dated December 20, 2007 regarding the resource estimate is available at http://www.nautilusminerals.com/s/Media-NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=278419

The company also holds approximately 600,000 square kilometers 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 and AIM stock exchanges and has its corporate office in Brisbane, Australia. Its major shareholders include Metalloinvest, the largest commercial iron ore producer in Europe and the CIS, which has a 21% holding, and global mining group Anglo American, which holds an 11.1% interest.

Certain of the statements made in this news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities law. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to statements or information with respect to the commencement of production at Solwara 1. We have made numerous assumptions about the material forward-looking statements and information contained herein, including among other things, that the approved project budget is an accurate estimate of the funding necessary to take the project into production, the Company's continued compliance with regulatory requirements, a continued productive relationship with the government of PNG and the good faith performance of the obligations of counterparties pursuant to contracts with the Company. Even though our management believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statement or information will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, the risk that the project budget is not an accurate estimate of funding required, the private placement is not successfully concluded by some or all parties or that Petromin does not make its contribution. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements and information. Although we have attempted to identify factors that would cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and information, there may be other factors that cause actual results, performances, achievements or events to not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Also, many of the factors are beyond our control. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. Except as required by law, we do not expect to update forward-looking statements and information as conditions change and you are referred to the full discussion of Nautilus's business contained in Nautilus's reports filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada.