28 Oct 2019 17:31

FAS grants Kinross Gold permission to buy Chulbatkan project in Khabarovsk Territory

MOSCOW. Oct 28 (Interfax) - The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has approved a request from Kupol Ventures Limited, through which Canada's Kinross Gold owns the Kupol project, for permission to acquire 100% of Third Mining-Exploration Company, according to FAS documents.

The Third Mining-Exploration Company owns N-Mining and the Chulbatkan gold ore project in the Khabarovsk Territory.

In the summer, Kinross Gold announced that it would acquire Chulbatkan for $283 million ($113 million in cash and $170 million in Kinross shares). N-Mining will also have the right to a share in the bottom line and in earnings related to the increase in reserves. The deal is expected to be closed in early 2020.

The project's capex has been preliminarily estimated at $500 million.

Chulbatkan's indicated resources are 3.91 million ounces of gold.

N-Mining is believed to be a project of the ex-head of PJSC Polyus , Yevgeny Ivanov. The company owns several geological-exploration projects in the Khabarovsk Territory and Primorye.

Kinross Gold is one of the world's biggest goldminers, with projects in Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Mauritania, Russia, and the United States. It has two assets in Russia, Kupol and Dvoinoye, both of which are in the Chukotka Autonomous Region.