Nautilus Minerals Launches Marketed Public Offering

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 24, 2011) -

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS)(AIM:NUS) has launched a marketed public offering of common shares of the Company.

The offering will be conducted through a syndicate of underwriters led by TD Securities Inc. and Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), Inc.

The offering is expected to raise gross proceeds of approximately C$150 million. The Company also will grant the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to that number of additional common shares equal to 15% of the common shares sold pursuant to the offering. The option will be exercisable for a period of 30 days following closing.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund the development of the Solwara 1 project, to fund the Company's equity contribution associated with the production support vessel joint venture agreement and for general corporate purposes.

Final pricing of the offering will be determined in the context of the market prior to the filing of the final short form prospectus. The common shares will be offered in all provinces of Canada except Quebec by way of a short form prospectus and other jurisdictions outside of Canada pursuant to applicable private placement exemptions.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state of the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements.

About Nautilus Minerals Inc.

Nautilus is the first company to commercially explore the ocean floor for polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits and is currently developing its first project at Solwara 1, in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean. Nautilus is listed on the TSX and AIM stock exchanges, and has among its largest shareholders two of the world's leading international resource companies Anglo American (11.1%) and Teck Resources (6.8%), as well as Metalloinvest, one of the largest and fastest growing mining and metallurgical holding companies in Russia, which beneficially owns 21.0% of the Company's issued shares through Gazmetall Holding (Cyprus) Limited.

Cautionary Statements

Certain of the statements made in this news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States Securities law. Forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to statements or information with respect to the expected gross proceeds of the offering and the use of the net proceeds from the offering. We have made numerous assumptions about the material forward-looking statements and information contained herein, including among other things, the costs associated with the development of the Solwara 1 project, the maintenance of a successful joint venture partnership with Harren and the ability of the Company to raise funding in the financial markets. 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 statements 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, a change in the expected use of proceeds, the failure to complete the offering or to obtain the approval of the TSX, Harren or Nautilus failing to secure debt funding, the Nautilus Board of Directors failing to sanction the project, late delivery of the support vessel or other equipment, variations to the price of the vessel, and assumptions regarding exchange rates. 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 the Company's business contained in the Company's reports filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada.