MOSCOW, March 25 (RIA Novosti) – China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd. (NFC) will acquire a 50-percent stake in a joint venture with the East Siberian Metals Corporation (MBC) to develop a giant complex deposit, MBC said on Monday.
The joint venture will develop the Ozernoye complex deposit – one of the world’s largest by zinc reserves – in Russia’s Republic of Buryatia, and build an ore mining and processing plant in the area.
Investment in the construction of the Ozerny ore mining and processing enterprise is estimated at $1.5 billion. The agreement also envisages the project’s financing by China Development Bank. MBC will also sign with NFC an integrated engineering, procurement and construction management contract, and an offtake contract for the Ozerny ore mining and processing plant’s output.
The Ozerny ore mining and processing plant will have an annual capacity of 8 million tons of ore and will use the resources of the Ozernoye deposit, which has estimated reserves of 157 million tons of ore, according to the JORC classification, with a zinc content of 5.2 percent and a lead content of 1 percent.
The field also contains 4,500 tons of silver.
