BRICS summit: Five participating nations to ink pact to mine Gold

New Delhi: Five players from BRICS nations today inked agreement to develop the Kluchevskoye gold deposits located in the Chita region of Russia at pre-production investment of USD 400-500 million.

The five players are SUN Gold Ltd, China National Gold Group Corp (China National Gold or CG), the Russian Sovereign Investment Fund, Far East and Baikal Region Development Fund (FEDF), and partners from Brazil and South Africa, SUN Gold said in a statement.

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Goa to develop the Kluchevskoye gold deposit located in the Chita region of Russia in Eastern Siberia, the statement said.

According to statement, representatives of all five BRICS countries are parties to this BRICS Gold MoU -- Nand Khemka, Chairman of the Indian Khemka family owned SUN Group, Tong Junhu representing China National Gold, Alexey Chekunkov representing the Russian Far East and Baikal Region Development Fund (FEDF), Ivor Ichikowitz from South Africa?s Trans AFRICA Capital, and investor Antonio de Moraes from Brazil.

The project, in the mining sector, is the first BRICS investment project.

According to the feasibility study completed by Changchun Gold Design Institute, the proposed joint venture aims to develop the Kluchevskoye gold deposit into a significant open pit mine and heap leach operation with an expected production rate of 12 million tonnes of ore per year and gold dor? production of over 6.5 tonnes per annum. The pre-production investment is expected to be USD 400-500 million.

SUN Group has considerable long-term expertise working in Russia, while the FEDF will be an important shareholder in the joint venture company, acting within its mandate, to help support the project?s growth, with a particular focus on gold and copper mining opportunities in the Russian Far East.