Yakutia sells iron deposits in one go

Yakutia's government has addressed Russia's Natural Resources Ministry with proposal to put up for investment contest all iron ore deposits of southern Yakutia via a single lot. The reserves are estimated at 5 billion tons, and ALROSA and Eastern Siberia's Mining Co. are tipped as potential investors.

The iron ore deposits of southern Yakutia should be sold via a single lot at the closed investment contest, Yakutia's President Vyacheslav Shtyrov said at the yesterday's meeting chaired by Russia's PM Mikhail Fradkov.

“They should be united into a single lot,” ITAR-TASS quoted Shtyrov as saying. The contest retirements will be constructing a mining and processing plant in Neryungri. The overall reserves of deposits are estimated at 5 billion tons of ore with the iron content of 30 percent.

To be more precise, Shtyrov expects an investor to build by 2015 a mining and processing plant that will annually produce from 15 million tons to 20 million tons and to construct a steel plant of 5 million tons to 6 million tons capacity by 2020.

But in Russia's Natural Resources Ministry, they think the assets of such extent should be sold via an auction rather than some closed contest, while the analysts doubt the mere economic expediency of their development. The iron ore reserves of deposits were evaluated in time of the former Soviet Union and figures don't correspond to reality, the analysts said.

// March. 14, 2007

Resource: Kommersant