N e w s

Ex-head of GOKHRAN Valeriy Rudakov has become the chairman of the gold mining company "Polus" board. The company has been bought by "Norilsk Nickel" recently. The new head of "Polus" declared that the company would participate in for the largest gold deposit Suhoy Log exploitation.

"Norilsk Nickel" announced its buying of 100% of the largest gold manufacture "Polus" last week. As a result, the share of "Norilsk Nickel" in the domestic gold market has exceeded 15%.

Experts consider this buying to increase "Norilsk Nickel" shares price for at least a dollar. They have also positively estimated new assets of the company for which it has paid $226mln. Experts predict the share of "Norilsk Nickel" in the gold market to have achieved 17% by 2003.

This year "Polus" company plans to mine 25 tons of gold - last year this figure being 16 tons.