Nautilus Minerals, a company engaded in seabed mining, has decided to halt the construction of Solwara 1 project offshore Papua New Guinea regarding a dispute with the government.

Nautilus terminated the construction because of a dispute over the cost of up to US $80 million, that, according to the company, the government is obliged to meet for the project, Radio New Zealand reports.

However, the government said that the Nautilus hasn’t addressed the concerns about core issues relating to the project, and that they want to be fully satisfied on core issues such as environmental impact before the participation in the Solwara 1 project.

Nautilus’ interim CEO Mike Johnston said: “When we were spending two or three million dollars a week, that was putting enormous pressure on us. So that’s why I made the decision to terminate the build of the equipment and give us the option to talk sensibly to those elements of government that perhaps don’t understand the project as well as perhaps they should.”

Mr. Johnston also said that he hopes the dispute will be solved as soon as possible.

Subsea World News Staff, November 16, 2012; Image: Nautilus Minerals