Arctic miners get financing for one of world's biggest palladium projects

Little has happened since leader of Russian Platinum Musa Bazhaev in late 2019 sat down with Vladimir Putin for a talk about his major Arctic project.

«This is a very good project,» Putin applauded as Bazhaev explained how his company intends to produce an annual 120 tons of palladium at the company’s two license areas in the Taymyr Peninsula.

It took another 1,5 year before the project got the financing needed for development.

According the company, the deal signed with VTB and VEB.RF during the St.Petersburg Economic Forum paves the way for project launch.

The project includes the building of a ore processing plant with 7 million tons capacity per year. Needed investments for the project’s first development train are estimated to 190 billion rubles, of which Russkaya Platina is believed to cover 20 percent.

“Russia will take a leading position in the world market of palladium and platinum,” Musa Bazhaev says in a comment, and adds that the VEB.RF and VTB Group will significantly help speed up project development and enhance efficiency.

The Chernogorskoye field is located in the Taymyr Peninsula, near the nickel fields of Nornickel. Ore reserves are estimated to 770 million tons and the production period stretches 55 years into the future.

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According to the company, annual net revenues will be as high as $3,7 billion, which means that the investment return period will be only four years.

The mining production is believed to be shipped out through the Northern Sea Route.

Russian Platinum in 2011 acquired the license to the Chernogorskoye field. Two years later, the company won the license to the nearby Norilsk-1 field.

The resources are planned extracted through an open pit and a nearby processing plant and smelter will be built, the company says on its website.

In addition to platinoids, the fields hold large resources of nickel and copper.

The Russian Platina is a company controlled by the Bazhaev family. In the company management are at least four members of the family. The Bazhaev family has its roots in Chechnya.