Based on materials from the official web-site of MMC Norilsk Nickel.

On March 17, 2006 in accordance with reorganization plan in the form of spin-off of gold assets and under the federal law on State registration of legal entities, OJSC Polyus Gold has been entered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

Official certificate of record in the USRLE # 1068400002990 was issued by the Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal tax service of the Russian Federation for the Krasnoyarsk region, Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenetsky) and Evenkia autonomous districts.

Also on March 17, 2006 according to the Federal Law on State registration of legal entities, the reorganization of MMC Norilsk Nickel in the form of spin-off was registered in the USRLE.

Denis Morozov, Deputy General director - member of the Management board of MMC Norilsk Nickel, said: “We are glad to inform our shareholders that one more important step in accordance with reorganization plan has been successfully and timely made – State registration of Polyus Gold. Completion of this stage enables us to take further steps on obtaining Russian listing and launching DR program for the new company”.

Commenting on the event General director of Polyus Gold Evgueni Ivanov said: “Polyus Gold’s state registration is an important step toward the formation of the largest Russian gold mining company which shares are publicly traded. We are pleased that we met this provision, essential for the Company’s future development”.