Mr. Mike Johnston reports

NAUTILUS MINERALS INC.: VESSEL CRANES CONTRACT AWARDED

Nautilus Minerals Inc. has awarded an order for cranes to be used on the company's production support vessel to MacGregor, headquartered in Kristiansand, Norway. This is the third major long-lead time equipment package to be awarded by the shipyard, Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Ltd.

Mike Johnston, Nautilus's chief executive officer, commented: "We are very pleased to have such a world-class supplier providing key equipment for use on our production support vessel. The cranes are an essential component in ensuring operations can be performed safely across all of our large working deck areas. The 2,500 m depth-rated heave-compensated main crane also provides critical lifting support to our subsea operations at the mine site. We look forward to reporting on the progress of this equipment as we move closer to production in 2018."

About the cranes

The order for cranes consists of two knuckle boom units.

The first crane is a large 200-tonne SWL crane with 2,500-metre water depth capability and equipped with active heave compensation. The second crane is a smaller 100-tonne SWL auxiliary crane to support back-deck and ship-to-ship operations.

Knuckle boom cranes are preferred for offshore use due to their inherently compact dimensions and ability to reduce the effect of ship motions on suspended loads. The large active heave compensated crane will also be capable of deploying and recovering various items of mining equipment directly to and from the sea floor. Both cranes will be used to load stores, spares and support the maintenance of shipboard SPTs and other items of production equipment during mining operations.

The cranes are due to be completed and delivered to the shipyard for integration by the first quarter 2017.

About MacGregor

MacGregor, headquartered in Kristiansand, Norway, provides integrated cargo and load handling solutions and services for the maritime transportation and offshore industries throughout the world.

MacGregor serves its customers with solutions that integrate cargo access, stowage, care and handling functions to suit a particular ship's cargo profile. This benefits the vessel's productivity, environmental impact and profitable service lifetime. MacGregor's sales totalled 1,034 million euros in 2014 and MacGregor employs approximately 2,700 people. MacGregor has personnel in 33 countries with more than 70 offices.

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