Tuesday, 20th September 2005 (3114 views)

Russia's largest gold company, Polyus, has bought assets in the Yakutia region.

This move has outmanoeuvred Celtic, an independent miners, that aimed to secure full control of the area and had a stake in the Nezhdaninskoye goldmine.

Located in eastern Siberia, the Yakutia area's primary industry is mining. It boasts gold deposits in the basins of Aldan, Indigirka, and Yana in addition to diamond deposits in West Yakutia.

For $285 million, Polyus has secured three gold assets including half of the Yuzhno-Verkhoyanskaya Mining Company, a firm that will be developing the Nezhdaninskoye mine.

As well as the share in Yuzhno-Verkhoyanskaya, it has acquired 99.2 per cent of Aldanzoloto and 100 per cent of Yakutia Mining Company.

"With this acquisition, the company opens a new region for its operations, an area with significant prospects in terms of resources and production growth," Polyus CEO Evgeny Ivanov said.

Polyus forms the gold arm of metals giant Norilsk Nickel and is due to be sold off by the company, which recently purchased a 20 per cent stake in the South African based Gold Fields.

 

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