Polyus capex could be $600 mln-$650 mln in 2016, more than half on Natalka
ST. PETERSBURG. June 17 (Interfax) - Polyus could boosts capex 2.3-2.4-fold in 2016 to $600 million-$650 million, the gold miner's CEO, Pavel Grachev, told Interfax on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
"The plan for this year is $600 million-$650 million. Largely it depends how dynamically the construction of the Natalka mine speeds up. The [capex] figures for 2017 will be the same, give or take a little," Grachev said.
More than half of this will go towards the giant Natalka gold project in the Magadan region, which is still due to launch in 2017, he said.
"As promised, we'll give an update before the end of summer on the latest results of work to optimize the project, with more precise capex and a milestone schedule. But the final launch date is still 2017" Grachev said.
He said the capex estimate might be lowered "with devaluation taken into consideration."
Polyus lowered capex 49% in 2015 to $268 million due the miner said, to a reduction in expenses on Natalka, capex control and a weaker ruble.