OREANDA-NEWS. April 06, 2010. ALROSA Vice-President Sergey Pushkin took part in the 8th International China Iron Ore Conference 2010 in Beijing, PRC.

Sergey Pushkin made a presentation to the conference on the prospects of a cluster of iron ore deposits in South Yakutia (Tayozhnoye, Desovskoye, Tarynnakhskoye and Gorkitskoye). Currently ALROSA holds licenses for the development of these deposits. The total commercial reserves of the 4 deposits are assessed at 4.8 billion tons of iron ore. According to experts, iron ore resources in South Yakutia have been underexplored and may be in excess of 20 billion tons, which would make this region one of the largest iron ore producing centers in the world.

The development of the deposits presupposes expanding the regional infrastructure – building transport infrastructure, a power supply line and two mining and processing plants. The development of the four deposits is a part of the Government Program "Integrated Development of SouthYakutia" aimed at creating a large industrial region with well-developed infrastructure. In the framework of this program, already in the implementation stage, infrastructure around the OJSC MMC Timir iron ore deposits is being constructed. At present ALROSA, assisted by independent Russian and international experts, has begun work to prepare a detailed feasibility study with a view to develop the deposits and build mining and processing facilities there.

ALROSA is looking for a well-established international or Russian company with experience in the development of iron ore assets and free steel making capacities that might be interested in becoming a strategic investor into the equity of OJSC MMC Timir.