Norilsk Nickel could start building Chita mines in 2008

MMC Norilsk Nickel (RTS: GMKN) could start building four mines in the Chita region late this year or early 2008, Alexander Tarabarko, chairman of the region's natural resources committee, told Interfax.

"Norilsk Nickel has nearly finished designing the mines," Tarabarko said. The company continues to carry out reserve appraisals at the mineral deposits, he said.

"The company's specialists are working at the Bystrinskaya, Lugokan and Kultuninskaya properties, thought to hold large copper, gold and iron resources, and at the Solonechenskoye antimony deposit, Kurunzulai molybdenum, copper and tungsten deposit, Bugdai molybdenum deposit, the Ildikanskaya property and the Bystrinsko-Shirinskoye vein gold deposit," the official said.

Norilsk Nickel could invest 1.4 billion rubles in the region this year, the regional administration said.

Norilsk Nickel has set a directorate up in Chita to oversee the construction of the mines and the Naryn-Lugokan tail track, Gennady Shevchuk, head of Norilsk Nickel's locally registered Vostokgeologiya subsidiary, told Interfax.

The overall cost of the project will be 167.77 billion rubles. Some 48.32 billion rubles for construction of the rail line will come from the state investment fund. Norilsk Nickel plans to invest 119.5 billion rubles in the project, including 21.7 billion rubles directly in the construction of the line and 97.7 billion rubles in the development of deposits.

The resources committee told Interfax that the Naryn-Lugokan rail track would link deposits in the Chita region's southeast to the Trans- Siberian Railway.

It said the Bystrinskoye field contained a probable 1.7 million tonnes of copper and around 200 tonnes of gold. This, combined with the other properties, would constitute a resource similar to that of Udokan, one of the world's biggest copper deposits, which is also in the Chita region.

The committee said that tenders among contractors for the rail track and mines were planned for the beginning of 2008.

Maxim Finsky, a Norilsk Nickel deputy CEO, viewed the sites by helicopter on Tuesday.


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