Mangazeya buys Taseevskoye deposit in Transbaikal with reserves of over 100 tonnes of gold from Highland Gold

MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) - Mangazeya Mining, part of the Mangazeya group belonging to Sergei Yanchukov, has agreed with Vladislav Sviblov's Highland Gold to buy the license to develop the Taseevskoye gold deposit in Transbaikal.

According to Mangazeya, under the terms of the deal, it will also receive a license for the geological exploration of the sands of the ZIF-2 tailing dump, the former Baleiskaya gold recovery plant.

The parties did not disclose the price of the transaction.

The Taseevskoye deposit is one of the largest in Transbaikal. According to Russian classification, the reserves are estimated at 105 tonnes of gold.

"The Taseevskoye deposit cannot be called simple: after the conclusion of the transaction, we will face a number of tasks related to additional study of the hydrogeological situation around the sites, the development of solutions for draining the open pit, as well as the choice of the optimal technology for ore dressing and hydrometallurgical processing. But the asset is definitely promising both for our company and for the region," Yanchukov said in a statement. The implementation of the project, according to his estimates, will increase gold production in the region by 30%.

"Now Highland Gold is concentrating on the development of greenfield projects and maintaining the operational efficiency of existing enterprises. The project to develop the Taseevskoye quarry did not fully fit into this strategy," Sviblov explained.

Mangazeya is one of the top 20 Russian gold miners; its production assets are located in the Transbaikal. In addition to gold mining, the group is engaged in development, agriculture and other areas.

Sviblov's company, according to estimates from the Russian Union of Gold Producers, came in third place in the country at the end of 2021 with total production of about 16 tonnes of gold.