Russian mining company and steel producer Evraz has won the tender to develop the Mezhegey coal desposit in the republic of Tyva. The company offered US$725m in the tender held by the Russian state mineral resources agency.
The Mezhegey coal deposit is located 800 km east of the city of Novokuznetsk, in the central part of the Republic of Tyva, East Siberia. It has estimated resources of 213.5mn tonnes of hard coking coal.
The development of the Mezhegey deposit is set to start in 2010 with the first coal to be mined in 2014. Evraz plans that the target production level of 10mn tonnes of raw coal, i.e. approximately 8.4mn tonnes of coal concentrate, will be reached by 2016.
Based on its experience in developing coal projects in Siberia, Evraz estimates the project’s development cost at approximately US$1.5bn.
Alexander Frolov, Evraz’s chairman and CEO, comments: “The purchase of the licence to develop the Mezhegey coal deposit is in line with our strategy to expand Evraz’s mining platform. The company will secure additional supply of high quality coking coal to its existing steel making facilities as well as deliver extra volumes of the coal to meet the growing demand from the market”.
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