Putin insists on Evraz building plant in Yakutia

YAKUTSK, Sep 1 (PRIME) -- President Vladimir Putin has called on U.K.-based Evraz Plc, which operates mainly in Russia, to build a metallurgical plant in the republic of Yakutia, which the company previously saw as unattractive for the investments, Putin said Monday at a government meeting for the development of the country’s Far East.

“As soon as there is light at the end of the metallurgical tunnel, while generally, the situation on international markets is not bad, and as soon as everything stabilizes and a long-term prospective in the area appears – let us agree not to reject the project,” he said.

Evraz did a feasibility study for the project six years ago and decided it was unattractive for investment, Board Chairman Alexander Abramov said. “We are ready to do the feasibility study more thoroughly or revamp it as of today and, if we are wrong, then why not?” he said.

Currently Evraz is implementing an iron ore project Timir in Yakutia jointly with diamond giant ALROSA. The project owns licenses for four fields with total reserves standing at 3.5 billion tonnes. The investments in the project’s first stage amount to over 9 billion rubles, while the total investments stand at about 60 billion rubles.

(36.9316 rubles – U.S. $1)

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