Nautilus Closes Second Tranche of Private Placement

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 11, 2012) - Nautilus Minerals Inc. ("Company" or "Nautilus") (TSX:NUS)(OTCQX:NUSMF)(AIM:NUS) has received gross proceeds of C$18.6 million from the issue of the second and final tranche of shares forming part of the non-brokered private placement first announced on August 1, 2012.

A total of 20,632,382 shares were issued today in the second tranche at an issue price of C$0.90 per share. The second tranche shares form part of a total capital raising of C$33.9 million, before expenses, involving the issue of 37,673,124 shares. The closing of the first tranche was announced on August 3, 2012. No finders' fees or commissions are payable by the Company in connection with the private placement. The total number of issued and outstanding shares of the Company is now 234,097,865.

The shares will be listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Application has also been made to the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange for the second tranche shares to be admitted to trading on September 17, 2012.

Following the closing of this second tranche, Metalloinvest maintains its interest in Nautilus at 21%, Anglo American maintains its interest at 11.1% and MB Holding Company LLC (the "MB Group"), through its subsidiary Mawarid Offshore Mining Ltd ("Mawarid") now owns approximately 16.9% of the Company's shares. As noted in the news release dated August 1, 2012, Mawarid has been granted the right to nominate a director to the board of Nautilus as long as it maintains its ownership interest in Nautilus at 15% or more. The appointment of Mawarid's nominee, Dr. Mohammed Ali Al Barwani has now been made effective.

Dr. Al Barwani, age 60, is founder and Chairman of the MB Group, has a Bachelor's Degree in Science from Miami University, Ohio, USA, was awarded a Master's Degree and PhD in Petroleum Engineering from Herriott-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK and is a member of the International SeaKeepers Society, an organisation dedicated to the protection of the environment through the world's oceans.

The MB Group has operations in 20 countries, 6,000 employees of 51 nationalities and generates revenues in excess of US$1.2 billion. Dr. Al Barwani is also the non-executive Chairman of Transgulf Holding (a publicly listed company) and Al Madina Insurance SAOC, is a member of the Board of Oman Air (the national airline) and held the following directorships/partnerships in the five years prior to this appointment:

Other than as set out above, there is no information with regards to the above mentioned appointment that is required to be disclosed pursuant to Schedule 2 paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

For further details of the private placement please refer to: http://www.nautilusminerals.com/s/Media-NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=539896&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Nautilus-to-raise-funds-and-continue-equipment-build

The common shares of Nautilus have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act or the securities laws of any state of the United States. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

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

About Nautilus Minerals Inc.

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

Nautilus also holds approximately 600,000 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 and AIM:NUS stock exchanges 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% interest and MB Holdings, an Oman based group with interests in mining, oil & gas, which holds a 17% interest.