ABN publishes that on November 3, 2004, the representatives of MMC Norilsk Nickel announced that in the nearest future the company didn’t plan to buy large gold assets. The company intends to pay special attention to the exploitation of the deposits already acquired. At the same time Norilsk Nickel hasn’t refused to participate in the auction for the Sukhoy Log deposit, and it has shown its interest in several gold deposits in Krasnoyarks krai, especially Titimikhta.

Now Norilsk Nickel possesses 100% of CJSC Polus shares, 50,6% of the Matrosov’s mine’s shares and 65,87% of Lena Gold. The auction for Titimukhta deposit is expected to have taken place by the end of the year.