Nordgold-related entity buys company with licenses for polymetallic ore deposits in Yakutia

MOSCOW. July 11 (Interfax) - Nordgold Development LLC, the beneficiary of which is Alexei Mordashov, gained control of Yakutsk Gas Processing Complex LLC (YGPC) on July 9, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

"YGPC's only asset is a relatively small polymetallic greenfield project in Yakutia, a priority Russian region for Nordgold. In the coming years, the company will study geological information and explore this deposit," the Nordgold press office told Interfax.

YGPC was established in 2017 by Yakutia Fuel and Energy Company (YATEC) , at the time a division of Ziyavudin Magomedov's Summa Group, as the operator of a project to build a methanol plant in Yakutia. It was then assumed that construction of the first 1.75 million tpy stage of the plant would start in 2019, construction and installation work was expected to be completed in 2021, and product shipments were expected to begin in 2022. Subsequently, YATEC changed ownership and abandoned the project.

YGPC received two subsoil licenses in 2021, one to mine polymetallic ores at the Sardana deposit, and the other lead-zinc ores and silver within the Sardana ore node comprising the Perevalny, Zapadny, Vostochny and Uruy blocks. The licenses are valid until 2030 and 2036, respectively.

Nordgold is among Russia's top 10 gold miners. The group also has assets in Kazakhstan, Guinea, and Burkina Faso.