Consortium to invest $500 mln in Russia’s Klyuchevskoye gold field

CHITA, Oct 17 (PRIME) -- An international consortium will invest up to U.S. $500 million in the development of the Klyuchevskoye gold ore field near Russia’s Lake Baikal, the Far East Development Fund, which is also a member of the consortium, said in a statement Monday.

On October 16, the fund signed a memorandum of understanding on a joint development of the field together with India’s SUN Gold Ltd, China National Gold Group, Trans AFRICA Capital, and Brazilian investor Antonio Moraes Neto. The joint venture will be aimed at making a large open-pit mine at the field with annual production of 12 million tonnes of ore and more than 6.5 million tonnes of gold ore. Investments are expected at U.S. $400–500 million.

In August, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service said China National Gold is about to buy a 70% stake in the Klyuchevskoye gold field from SUN Gold.

Reserves of the field were estimated at 47.8 tonnes under the A, B, and C1 categories and at 26.6 tonnes under the C2 category. The development of the field was suspended more than 10 years ago.

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