Govt may offer support for copper, gold fields in Russia Far East

VLADIVOSTOK, Oct 7 (PRIME) -- Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev has suggested the government study offering infrastructural support to the development of copper and gold fields of the Baimskaya area in Russia’s Chukotka Autonomous District, the local government said in a statement on Friday.

Tycoon Roman Abramovich’s Millhouse won an auction for a 25-year license for the Baimskaya area in 2008 for 1.078 billion rubles. Currently, the resources of the Peschanka deposit, part of the Baimskaya area, amount to 9.5 million tonnes of copper and more than 500 tonnes of gold. In 2015, Millhouse signed an agreement of intent for the development of the area with the regional government and the fund for development of the Far East.

“I think that we will be able to kickstart the project with provision of state support in construction of infrastructure…we’ve asked the Far East Development Ministry, a corresponding corporation, investors and the region’s authorities to look at the project, and we will support the project if it reaches multipliers that are competitive against other existing processes in the Far East,” Trutnev said.

Viktor Kudinov, head of Millhouse’s unit Regional Mining Company, said that it will need more than 130 billion rubles to launch the first line of an ore dresser in the Baimskaya site, of which 25 billion rubles will be spent on construction of an Omuskan–Peschanka power transmission line. The company is ready to study all possible options for cooperation with the government.

More than 90% of all proven reserves of the field will be involved in production, and proven reserves will more than double, the highest figure among all projects in the world that are going through preparation stages now, Kudinov added.

(62.3900 rubles – U.S. $1)

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