MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) together with partners from China and the Middle East will invest 178 bln rubles ($2.7 bln) in Intergeo, a metals and mining company and part of Onexim Group owned by Mikhail Prokhorov, the Fund said in a statement on Thursday.
A group of investors including the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Russia-China Investment Fund and a leading Middle Eastern sovereign fund has acquired a 9.53% stake in the company. The group’s investment will promote the development of the Kingash and Ak-Sug polymetallic deposits, located in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Tyva Republic, respectively, as well as the project to construct associated infrastructure, the Fund noted.
RDIF and partners’ investments in Intergeo are aimed at the implementation of the national projects "Labor Productivity and Employment Support" and "International Cooperation and Exports", the statement said. "The project will give significant impetus to the economies of the two Russian regions and help create over 10,000 jobs," CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev was quoted as saying.
Kingash is the second largest nickel deposit in Russia, with mineral resources including 2.4 million tonnes of nickel, 1.1 million tonnes of copper, 98,000 tonnes of cobalt, 52,000 tonnes of gold and 261 tonnes of platinum group metals, according to the JORC Code. The annual capacity of the mining and processing plant is planned at 520,000 tonnes of copper-nickel concentrate. Production is expected to begin in 2024.
Ak-Sug is one of Russia’s top-5 projects in terms of copper reserves. Its mineral resources include 5.1 million tonnes of copper and 121 tonnes of gold, according to the JORC Code. The planned annual capacity of the mining and processing plant is 500,000 tonnes of copper concentrate. Production is expected to start in 2023.
The project is on the list of the Intergovernmental Russian-Chinese Commission on Investment Cooperation initiated by RDIF and the Chinese Investment Corporation in 2014 to promote cross-border investment projects.