GV Gold wins Drazhnoye gold license
MOSCOW. Sept 12 (Interfax) - OJSC Vysochaishy (GV Gold) has won a tender fro the right to prospect, explore and mine the potentially large Drazhnoye gold-silver deposit at the Taryn ore field in Yakutia, the company said in a statement.
The tender, called at the end of last year, has been put off on several occasions as bids have not complied with tender requirements.
The Russian Federal Subsurface Resources Agency (Rosnedra) admitted five companies to the tender: GV Gold; Northern Gold Mining (Nordgold); Sakha Mining which, according to the SPARK database, belongs to Mark Buzuk's AfroAsia Mining Company; LLC Onyx, which a gold industry source said is affiliated with Gazprombank ; and CJSC Investcement, which, according to SPARK, is owned by private individuals, and according to a source, associated with Sibir Mining Company.
GV Gold will receive a 25-year license once the government has endorsed the tender results.
The deposit is located in Yakutia's Oymyakon district on the eastern flank of the Taryn field. The property has developed transport infrastructure, an uninhabited village suitable for a base, operating substation and power transmission line.
The deposit's C1+C2 reserves are 35 tonnes of gold with average grading of 5.6 g/t Au and probable P1+P2 reserves - 388 tonnes.
"Work at Drazhnoye is part of the company's strategy to increase gold production. We're prepared to apply our expertise in implementing large-scale projects from scratch and create an efficient, modern mining enterprise at Drazhnoye in a short period of time," GV Gold's general director, Sergei Vasilyev, was quoted as saying.
The privately owned GV Gold was Russia's eighth biggest gold producer last year, according to the Union of Russian Gold Producers. Gold production rose 13.1% in 2011 to 4.4 tonnes (141,500 oz) and the company plans to produce 5.2 tonnes (167,200 oz) in 2012.
The group's ore deposits are located in the Irkutsk region and Yakutia.
GV Gold's institutional investors include BlackRock funds and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.