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Tax abatement allows Nornickel to boost investments in Arctic exploration geology

This will allow the Norilsk Nickel Company to build up its annual investments in geological exploration to about $30.3 million

VLADIVOSTOK, September 5. /TASS/. The newly-introduced 3.5 tax coefficient to stimulate geological exploration in the Arctic allows the Norilsk Nickel Company to build up its annual investments in geological exploration from current 1.5 billion rubles ($22.7 million) to about two billion rubles ($30.3 million), the company’s Vice President Dmitry Pristanskov told reporters on sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.

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The Ministry of Natural Resources suggested introducing a 3.5 coefficient in calculating the income tax on expenses for geological exploration in the Arctic. The coefficient will be used to multiply the expenses and thus calculate the tax base.

"For the company, it is an opportunity to invest additionally in exploration geology between 300 and 500 million rubles (between $4.5 million and $7.6 million) due to the benefit from using this coefficient," he said, stressing presently the company’s investments are 1.5 billion rubles a year.

The fifth Eastern Economic Forum is being held in Russia’s Vladivostok on September 4-6. Roscongress Foundation is the event’s organizer. TASS news agency is the event’s general information partner, the official photo hosting agency and moderator of the presentation zone focusing on the Russian Far East’s innovation opportunities.

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