Mining heavyweight Polymetal International has announced that its equity ownership in Polygon Gold, which owns the Veduga gold deposit in the Krasnoyarsk region of the Russian Federation, has decreased from 81.8 to 42.6 per cent.
The reduction has occurred partly as a result of an increase in Polygon's share capital by 471 shares to 1,571 for $14.2m, the proceeds of which will be used to finance the Veduga project and repay part of Polygon's debt.
In addition, Gazprombank has expressed an interest in providing project financing to Polygon to develop Veduga into a producing mine.
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Also affecting the reduction, Polymetal sold 230 of its shares in Polygon to Sibproekt, a private Russian investor, for a total consideration of $8.0m.
"These deals represent logical continuation of our efforts to maximise the value of our stake in Polygon and ensure the availability of financing for the development of Veduga," said Vitaly Nesis, CEO of Polymetal.
NR
