Jerooy gold miner operator, VTB agree financing in yuan instead of dollars
BISHKEK. April 22 (Interfax) - Alliance Altyn LLC, which holds the license to develop the Jerooy gold deposit in Kyrgyzstan, and Russia's VTB , which is financing the construction of a mining and processing plant at the deposit, amended the loan agreement in 2024, Vostok-Geoldobycha, the parent company of Alliance Altyn, said in a financial statement.
The agreement now states that the bank will provide credit facilities of up to 3.23 billion yuan, compared with $265 million before. The loan term is eight years from the date the original agreement, signed in 2018, was amended.
VTB signed an agreement with Alliance Altyn's JSC Alliance Group in March 2018 to develop the Jerooy gold project.
Gold is currently mined at Jerooy by the open-pit method, but underground mining is also planned. An EPC contract to sink mine shafts has already been signed with a contractor, but the mining will be carried out by Alliance Altyn itself. Parallel underground mining will be established within three years.
At the time the gold recovery plan was launched in 2021, investments in the Alliance Altyn project amounted to $410 million, but the costs of organizing underground mining will increase the investment to $600 million.
Alliance Altyn LLC was established by Vostok-Geoldobycha, registered in 2015 in the settlement of Sasyk-Bulak in the Talass district. It started to mine the Jerooy gold deposit in November 2019 and commissioned a recovery plant and tailings dump in March 2021. The company produces 3.5-5 tonnes of gold per year.
The Jerooy deposit's gold and silver reserves, as approved by the Kyrgyz State Mineral Reserves Commission, are: commercial C1+C2 - 88.231 tonnes, non-commercial 17.322 tonnes Au; and commercial C2 - 24.349 tonnes and non-commercial 6.004 tonnes Ag.
Vostok-Geoldobycha said in the financial report that Alliance Altyn LLC boosted net profit 2.4-fold to 6.4 billion som or $73.7 million at the current rate in 2024. Retained earnings were 8.5 billion som at end-2024.
The plant recovered 4.514 tonnes of gold and 504 kg of silver from 1.33 million tonnes of ore last year. End-to-end gold recovery was 91.4%. More than 16 tonnes of precious metal has been recovered from 4.67 million tonnes of ore since 2021. Gold and silver sales had reached 88.6 billion som as of December 31, 2024.
Alliance Altyn LLC has said it paid 9.3 billion som in taxes in 2024 and more than 24.3 billion som since 2015. Taxes on gold sales were 7.5 billion som in 2024 and 18 billion som since April 2021.
Vostok-Geoldobycha said it planned to recoup investment in the project this year.