Nautilus Minerals Files Preliminary Prospectus for C$40M Rights Offering

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 28, 2013) -

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Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX:NUS)(OTCQX:NUSMF) (the "Company" or "Nautilus") has today filed a preliminary short form prospectus within each province of Canada, other than Quebec, in respect of a rights offering to raise gross proceeds of C$40,000,000 through the issuance of rights to subscribe for an aggregate of 200,000,000 common shares at a subscription price of C$0.20 per common share.

One of the Company's major shareholders, MB Holding Company LLC, through a wholly owned subsidiary, has agreed to act as Standby Purchaser in respect of the full offering and will purchase all of the common shares that are 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 offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the acceptance of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Management of the Company will hold an investor call next week, the details of which will be provided in due course.

The prospectus is available electronically at www.sedar.com.

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

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 completion of the rights offering, the agreement with a shareholder to act as standby purchaser, the use of proceeds of the offering, the advancement of the Solwara 1 Project and the resolution of the dispute with the State of PNG. We have made numerous assumptions about the material forward-looking statements and information contained herein. 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 rights offering is not successfully concluded, that regulatory approval in respect of the rights offering is not received, and that the dispute with the State of PNG will not be resolved in a reasonable period of time. 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.

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 more than 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 Metalloinvest, the largest iron ore producer in Europe and the CIS, which has a 21% holding, global mining group Anglo American, which holds an 11.1% interest and MB Holding, an Oman based group with interests in mining, oil & gas, which holds a 16.7% interest.