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N e w s
MARCH 5
ALROSA Will Search for Diamonds in Cooperation with Rio Tinto
Russian diamond monopoly ALROSA and one of the oldest mining companies in the world Rio Tinto will join forces to search for diamonds in Karelia, ALROSA President Vyacheslav Shtyrov said at the press conference in St-Petersburg.
The alliance will be represented by a joint venture, with 51% of the stake owned by ALROSA, 25% stake by the authorities of the republic, 24% stake by Rio Tinto. According to him all the formalities are possible to be set by the first half of 2001.
Rio Tinto is a branch establishment of Ashton Mining Ltd.(Australia) who is running diamond search in Karelia since 1994. Australian miners were to become partners of ALROSA but in 2000 Rio Tinto bought the controlling interest of Ashton Mining.
In 1998 Australian miners reduced the search and now the surveyed territory is only 60.000 sq.m. in the Central and South-Eastern Karelia.
One of the terms of the agreement was investing about $1.000.000 by the Russian party. Ashton Mining invested $2-3 mln so the expences should be balanced. Possible amount of diamonds at Karelia territory is estimated at $650 mln - $1 bn.
NTV.ru
Source: Russia Online
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