N e w s

There is a stable growth of the amount of mined gold in Amursk region. Some 12.3 tons of gold was mined in 1999 which sets a record for the last 5 years. According to the chairman of the region natural resource and mining committee Hikolay Starkov, gold mining is becoming a priority in the economy of Amursk region.

Over the last 5 years the share of gold-mining in the industry of the region has grown twice as much. In 1999 JSC Amurzoloto got 90 million rubles of profit which exceeds the rate of the previous season by 1.5 times. For the first time in the 40-year history of gold-mining in the region mining of ore gold was begun at the Pokrovsk deposit. Mined at the deposit were 197 kg of gold. The plan is to begin mining ore gold at 2 more deposits in the region. The growth could be achieved due to a well-developed system of financial support of gold-diggers and mining enetrprises.

The support of local and Moscow bancs made it possible for gold-mining industry to incease the investments by 3 times during the last 2 years. What is more, Moscow bancs are willing to buy gold from Amursk region. Thus, 2 tons of gold were purchased by Vneshtorgbank in 1999 and a contract signed with the bank on financing gold mining in 2000. Banks "Zenit", Rosbank" and Novosibirsk refining plant also intend to invest in the region gold mining.

The Source: Finmarket