JEMIMA GARRETT
RADIO AUSTRALIA

NAUTILUS MINERALS SAYS a dispute with the Papua New Guinea government may result in a slowing or deferral of its plans to be the first group in the world to mine deep-sea gold and copper.

Nautilus Minerals says it and the PNG government are in dispute.

The government signed an agreement with Nautilus in March last year to take a 30% stake in the project.

It says Nautilus has not met some of its obligations and so PNG has not paid its share of the substantial project development costs.

Nautilus announced it has initiated the official dispute resolution process.

Senior representatives from both sides have 10 days to resolve their differences or face arbitration.

Seafloor mining is due to start before the end of next year.

Nautilus says the dispute has the potential to delay that timetable and to push up project costs.