Nautilus Minerals told the Toronto Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market that it had discovered four new high-grade seafloor massive sulphide systems in Tonga.
High grades of gold, copper, zinc and silver were present in the finds. Nautilus has pioneered undersea mining in Papua New Guinea and has exploration rights in New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone running up to Tonga and Fiji.
This year, rival Neptune Minerals said it had applied to begin a $426 million gold and copper deep-sea mining operation 300 kilometers north of East Cape.
On preliminary data publicly available, the new Tonga find is richer than the New Zealand mining.
The newly discovered SMS systems are 90 kms. apart, near Niuatoputapu, in northern Tonga. They are in waters 900 meters deep in contrast to the New Zealand finds which are 1,200 to 1,300 meters deep.
Nautilus chief executive Stephen Rogers said the find in Tonga was outstanding. It was the first time that commercial exploration had taken place in Tongan waters, he said.
