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Nautilus sinks

Aspiring deep-sea miner Nautilus Minerals has encountered turbulent waters - causing us to abandon the ship
November 14, 2012

Nautilus Minerals (NUS) has stopped building its deep-sea mining equipment after failing to reach an agreement with the Papua New Guinea government over payment obligations.

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Nautilus' main sea floor project, Solwara 1, lies in waters off PNG. Under its agreement there, the government was supposed to pay a share of project development costs in exchange for an interest. But the government hasn't paid up, and Nautilus says it is owed $23.5m (£15m) that was due in January 2011 and $51.5m (excluding interest) since then.

The financing shortfall means Nautilus can no longer viably build the complicated equipment needed to mine the sea floor. And without government support, the project might not ever get off the ground, anyway.