TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Independent State of Papua New Guinea (PNG) would have another six months to exercise stock options that Canadian marine mining leader Nautilus Minerals had granted to its joint venture (JV) partner in the Solwara 1 offshore project.

Under terms of a December 11 JV accord, the country’s nominee Eda Kopa (Solwara) took an initial fully funded 15% interest in the project, with the option to take up to a further 15% interest within a year, upon making certain cash payments.

The option was exercisable in a series of three 5% lots within 6, 9 and 12 months, respectively, from when the deal was inked. Should Eda Kopa not exercise any of the lots within the relevant time period, the option and any later options would be deemed lapsed, the company affirmed.

Nautilus had agreed to the extension to facilitate further discussion between the company and the State nominee.

The company was in the process of pioneering the concept of mining the ocean bed for copper, gold, zinc and silver.

Using a trio of submersible robots, Nautilus was intent on recovering high-grade polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits at 1 600 m below the surface of the Bismarck Sea, within the Western Pacific Ocean’s Rim of Fire.

The operation aimed to produce ore at a rate of more than 1.3-million tons a year, with the capacity to ultimately ramp up to 1.8-million tons a year of dewatered ore, which would be delivered to the PNG Port of Rabaul.

The Solwara 1 project team in 2007 reported the world's first SMS resource statement after it drilled a National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource using newly developed, remotely operated drills.

As of November 25, 2011, the Solwara 1 project had an indicated mineral resource of one-million tons, grading 7.2% copper, 5 g/t gold, 23 g/t silver and 0.4% zinc. Its inferred resource comprised 1.54-million tons, grading 8.1 % copper, 6.4 g/t gold, 34 g/t silver and 0.9% zinc.

Nautilus's TSX-listed stock gained about 15% since the start of the year, but on Thursday traded down a penny at C$0.46.