Polymetal to support junior companies

Kazakhstan’s subsoil users got a chance to implement projects in the search and production of gold, copper and polymetals. Polymetal has taken the initiative to support junior companies, the press service of the company said.

“The main idea is to identify projects for the extraction of gold and other precious metals. It may be undeveloped deposits in Kazakhstan, mines, quarries, factories. All this requires financial costs, and we understand that small companies are not ready for them. We are ready to support such projects,” Kanat Dosmukametov, General Director of Polymetal Eurasia explained. Polymetal is ready to participate in financing or co-financing such projects.

Other options for cooperation are also being considered. All interested parties are invited to submit their proposals in any convenient form, be it presentation, investment project, or another, to the office of Polymetal Eurasia by March 1 of this year. The proposal should include a justification of the project’s prospects (resources, reserves, estimated type of ores), the status and volume of work performed, proposals for the exploration plan and the required investments. The finalists of the competition will be determined by experts of Polymetal and invited to the final stage of the competition, which is scheduled for March-April 2019. The exact dates and venue will be announced later.

Previously, Polymetal announced a similar initiative in Russia. The company can invest more than 500 million rouble (2.8 billion tenge) in 2019-2021 for the implementation of two projects, the winners of the pilot competition, which took place in December. In addition to financing, transport, household and logistic support is provided.

“We consistently advocate the development of the junior movement and are interested in cooperation with small exploration companies. We expect to receive many interesting offers and in the future we plan to hold contests for juniors on an ongoing basis,” Sergey Trushin, Polymetal’s deputy head for mineral resources, explained.

Polymetal is one of the leaders in the extraction of precious metals with assets in Russia, Kazakhstan and Armenia. In Kazakhstan, Polymetal Int has been operating since the fourth quarter of 2009, when the company acquired the Varvarinskoye gold-copper deposit in the Kostanay region. In September 2014, Polymetal closed a deal to acquire the Kyzyl gold project in the East Kazakhstan region. Kyzyl includes Bakyrchik, which is one of Kazakhstan’s largest gold deposits.

Reported by ABC TV (Kazakhstan).