ARKHANGELSK, March 31. /TASS/. Russian nuclear agency Rosatom expects to involve partners in the project on developing the Pavlovskoye lead-zinc ore deposit on Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic region and offers Sweden’s Boliden to jointly develop the field, head of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev said in an interview with TASS.

"We may attract a private investor directly to the work on the field’s development, in particular, it may be Swedish company Boliden. To date there is no final agreement with the company to jointly develop the Pavlovskoye field, but we are forming a diversified package of investment partners for the development of the lead-zinc ore deposit. It is important for us to strengthen our investment resources in this project at the expense of our partners," he said.

Likhachev reminded that the total volume of investments for the project, including creation of the port infrastructure, exceed 20 bln rubles ($354 mln). The construction of port infrastructure is estimated at 5-6 bln rubles ($88.7-106.5 mln).

According to him, Rosatom hopes to receive the support from the government.

"Of course, when it comes to creation of the port infrastructure of the Arkhangelsk region and the development of transport highways we would like to receive state investments. I think this request is grounded and we are now in talks with the government," the head of Rosatom said.

The Pavlovskoye deposit is located on the Yuzny Island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, 15 km from the coast of the Barents Sea. It covers an area of ··more than 12 square kilometers.

The explored reserves of lead-zinc ores amount to about 50 million tonnes, silver reserves - 16 tonnes. Likhachev stressed that after additional exploration the field’s reserves may even double.