Gutseriev to start building potash mine in Belarus in March 2013
SARAPUL. Oct 11 (Interfax) - The construction of a potash mine in Belarus will commence in March 2013, Russneft's president, Mikhail Gutseriev, told journalists in Sarapul on Thursday.
"Projects are underway and alive in Belarus. There's a potash project. We will start building the mine in March," he said, adding that construction should take three years.
Under the project, 1.8 million tonnes of potash will be produced each year, with financing carried out under a 70/30 scheme. "We will give 30%, somewhere around $500 million, and the bank will give $1.5-$1.3 billion," he said, noting that there is not yet a final decision on which bank will finance the project. "Either Sberbank of Russia or other banks," Gutseriev said in response to a question about Sberbank's participation in the project.
At the end of September, Sberbank of Russia CEO German Gref said that the bank is mulling various investments in Belarus, including the development of a potash field. When later asked about the potash field in question, Gref specified "it is a Mikhail Gutseriev project."
LLC Slavkaly was registered in Belarus as a foreign limited liability company in October 2011. Slavkaly's founders are UK-based JMC Global Slavkaly Ltd (99.9%) and JMC Global Energy Plc (0.1%), one of the shareholders of which is Mikhail Gutseriev.
JMC Global Energy Plc has signed an agreement with the Belarusian government to build a mining and processing complex at the Starobinskoye deposit with capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of finished product per year. The project calls for handing over the Nezhinsky, Smolovsky and Lyubansky sections of the deposit to the investor, which will invest $1.5 billion in the project and another $250 million in the Belarusian economy. The complex should reach its design capacity in 2021.
