The government of Chelyabinsk, a territory in the Ural Mountains of Russia, has pledged US$600 million over the next seven years to kick-start the region’s base metal mining industry.
Under the plan, which was approved last year but is only now moving forward, the regional government will provide funds to local exploration and development companies. The government last year formed South Ural Mining, which will allocate funds to local firms and undertake exploration of its own. The government, concerned about dwindling exploration spending in the remote region, allocated $1.4 million for South Ural Mining this year.
Since its inception, the company has been exploring several known base metal occurrences. Exploration at one of these, the Tomonskoye copper porphyry deposit, entailed drilling 20,000 holes as deep as 300 metres, with further work planned for the autumn. The deposit has a resource of 1.3 million tonnes grading 0.3% copper.
South Ural also plans to explore the Chesmin district, which hosts a deposit known to contain 464,000 tonnes grading 1.2%. The work program is budgeted at $200,000.
The government has succeeded in attracting several Western companies to the region. Three unnamed Canadian firms are said to be in negotiations with local officials, and a deal has been reached with Finnish miner Outokumpu to supply mining equipment.
— With files from Interfax News Agency.
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