Evraz Sees No Barriers to Close the Deal on Purchase of 51% Share in Timir Project

Evraz Plc sees no obstacles to close the transaction on purchase of 51% share in Timir iron-ore project in Yakutia, according to a recent statement by Evraz President Alexander Frolov made during teleconference, Prime news agency reports.
In September 2011 AK ALROSA and Evraz signed agreement establishing a joint venture aimed at development of Timir iron ore project. Evraz was supposed to acquire 51% stake in Timir Mining and Metallurgical company from the diamond mining giant which will retain 49% share. The parties expected to close the deal in the first quarter of 2012.
However the Federal Property Management Agency protracted issuing appropriate directive required for its conclusion, which resulted in extension of terms to June – July, 2012. The amount of transaction is estimated at over 5 billion rubles.
“As of today, all the issues concerning dates of closure of the deal are up to ALROSA’s discretion rather than depend on our side. All problems and potential issues pertaining to Timir project, that the government used to raise being a shareholder of ALROSA – have now been resolved ands settled down. The deal is approved by the Ministry of Economic Development, therefore, I suppose, and I’m 100% sure that there are no further obstacles to proceed with the closure of the transaction. However it is difficult to define whether the deal will be closed in coming weeks and within a month,” – Frolov noted.
Asked on whether the deal is going to be closed till the end of 2012, Frolov responded: “Probable, yes.”
Timir project includes four iron ore deposits, namely Tayozhnoye, Desovskoye, Tarynnakhskoye and Gorkitskoye, with total commercial iron ore reserves assessed at about 5 billion tonnes of iron ore. The development of the four deposits is part of the Russia’s government program ‘Integrated Development of South Yakutia’.