TASS, September 2. A new tender to tap the Ak-Sug metallic ore deposit in Tuva will be held by the end of this year, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov said at the meeting with President Vladimir Putin on socioeconomic development of the region.

"The previous Ak-Sug license holder [Intergeo company - TASS] did not demonstrate activity in its development. A tender for license transfer to a more responsible user will be held in this regard by the end of this year. We expect this will expedite work on construction of a mining and concentration plant with annual processing up to 24 million metric tons of ore to produce 500,000 metric tons of copper concentrate, molybdenum, and many other associated components," Alikhanov said.

A high voltage power line will be built to supply power to the deposit, the minister said.

The Ak-Sug project is among the top five largest in Russia in terms of copper reserves.