N e w s

It is planned that the Decree on export quotes of platinum group metals for 2002 is to be viewed next week by the Prime Minister, Mikhail Kasianov, upon his return from his visit to Canada, Brazil and Venezuela. This was the information provided by reliable source in the Ministry of Finance, according to which, the Decree should have been signed before the start of December. However, due to the delayed processing of the necessary documentation, it has only reached the designated department last week.

As it was noted earlier by Vladimir Rybkin, the Deputy Head of the Russian State Treasury GOKHRAN, the quote volumes for exported metals for the year 2002 would be fairly at the same level as the previous year. The permits for platinum export will be granted to the mining companies "Kariaggeoldobycha" and "Amur" as well as to the Central Bank of Russian Federation and Russian State Treasury GOKHRAN. "Almasuvelirexport" will be granted a permit for all the manufacturers of the secondary materials.

It is agreed that "Norilsk Nickel" gets permits for platinum export valid for the period of 5 years, while GOKHRAN and Central Bank acquire palladium export permits in 2002. Note that Norilsk Nickel already holds such license since 1999 for the period of 10 years. Long-term quotes for other exporters and producers will not be available.