Press release

Polyus Gold Mining Company has successfully certified its evaluation of Blagodatnoe deposit (Krasnoyarsk region) with the State Reserves Committee. Blagodatnoe certified reserves now comprise 222.4 ton in pit outline (categories B+C1+C2, according to the Russian code) with average gold content of 2.4 g/t. In addition to this, 42 tons of off-balance C2 reserves in pit outline have been registered as well as 89.9 tons of off-balance C2 reserves outside the pit outline. Probable P1 category reserves amounted to 117 tons.

Commenting on the event, the group’s president Evgueni Ivanov said: “Not only is the state confirmation of Blagodatnoe reserves a great achievement of Polyus’s geologists, but it is also a significant step forward for Russian gold mining industry in general. It was the first exploration project of such scale in Russia’s modern history that resulted in successful state registration of a new large gold deposit”. Mr. Ivanov also noted that “Blagodatnoe reserves added another 25 years of life to Polyus’ operations in Krasnoyarsk (about 170 tons), and made a considerable contribution to the region’s confirmed gold reserves”.

Blagodatnoe deposit is located in Severo-Yeniseisk district of Krasnoyarsk region, 26 kilometers to the North of Polyus’ Olympiada mine. Exploration and assessment works carried out by Polyus’ exploration group in 2000-2004 in Olympiada area resulted in reassessment of earlier Blagodatnoe reserves (Northern area) and discovery of a new ore body in the Southern area, accounting for as much as 4/5 of total Blagodatnoe reserves.

Polyus gold mining group is the leading gold producer in Russia and the only Russian company among the world’s 10 largest gold producers in terms of both reserves and production. Polyus’s asset portfolio includes 16 rock gold deposits and about 100 placer deposits located in Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Magadan, Yakutsk, and Amur regions of Russia.