Russian Polymetal acquires gold deposit in Kazakhstan
By Nigar Abbasova
Polymetal company, a leading gold and silver mining group, operating in Russia and Kazakhstan has completed acquisition of Orion Minerals, the holding company for the Komarovskoye Gold Deposit in Kazakhstan, from Kazzinc company, a subsidiary of Anglo–Swiss Glencore plc, said the message from Polymetal. The acquisition was completed on August 1, 2016, following receipt of all required regulatory approvals.
The company paid $100 million in cash for the deposit.
In addition, Kazzinc will get a deferred consideration, which will depend on future production levels and gold price. The deferred consideration will be calculated on a quarterly basis, and is payable if the price of gold exceeds $1,250 per ounce.
Komarovskoye field is located in North-Eastern Kazakhstan within 10 km of the town of Zhitikara and approximately 187 km by rail from the Varvara Deposit, owned by Polymetal. Ore from the acquired deposit will be delivered to Polymetal’s nearby Varvara processing hub.
Initial investments in the project is expected to be less than $5 million as vast majority of mining equipment will be delivered from the Varvara Deposit while the remaining part of the equipment to be provided by contractors.
Komarovskoe deposit is a low-sulfide quartz gold ore with the total license area is 104 square kilometers. Estimated resources of the field stood at 28 million tons with the gold content of 1.5 gramms per ton (approximately 1.4 million ounces) in late 2015.
The field comprises a plant on the heap leaching with the capacity of 500,000 tons of ore per year. The deposit has so far produced more than 200,000 ounces of gold.
Polymetal is planning to assess ore reserves till late 2016.
Polymetal also acquired the entire issued share capital of Altynalmas Gold Ltd., the holding company for the Kyzyl gold project in Kazakhstan, in 2014. The company bought the Kyzyl gold project from Sumeru Gold B.V. and Sumeru LLP. The company expects Kyzyl to propel its output up to 1.6 million ounces in 2020. Acquisition of the Kyzyl gold project, which comprises the Bakyrchik and Bolshevik gold deposits, increased Polymetal's gold reserves by approximately 50 percent. Polymetal plans to start production at the Kyzyl Project in 2018 upon completion of the feasibility analysis.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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