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Eurasia receives Monchetundra permit approval

Construction phase can now begin, with EPCF contract with Sinosteel already agreed

Staff reporter

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The permit authorised by the office of prime minister Dmitry Medvedev allows for the project's 1.9 million-ounce palladium-equivalent reserves and resource to be extracted from two openpits, West Nittis and Loipishnun.

This resource includes significant base metal credits, including 28,124 tonnes of copper and 30,410t of nickel.

Palladium surpassed gold to become the most valuable precious metal this week, reaching US$1,240 per ounce on automotive demand. 

Eurasia managing director Christian Schaffalitzky said the final permit approval represented a "sea change for the company, as this is a major project which the company intends to develop alongside our West Kytlim PGM and gold mine, which achieved steady state industrial scale production during 2018". 

Eurasia previously signed an engineering, procurement, construction and financing contract with China's Sinosteel for 85%, or US$149.6 million, of the total contract value of $176 million.

The contract included a $50 million sub-contract with Eurasia 80% subsidiary Terskaya Gornaya Kompany, or another choice sub-contractor, for the engineering and development of the two openpits in preparation for mining.

Schaffalitzky said Eurasia's arrangements with Sinosteel meant it could move forward with the project's development without further dilution of its shareholder base.

The permit is the first hard rock PGM mining permit to be issued in the country since February 2016, with Schaffalitzky saying the low volume of PGM permits reflected the lack of investment in the sector, which Eurasia's directors felt made Monchetundra "particularly valuable".

"The vast majority of permits issued in Russia are for gold projects, and it is also quite rare in the current phase of the resources cycle to find an exploration company taking a project all the way from greenfields exploration through mine permitting," he said.

He also pointed out the recent price gains in the palladium market were "particularly beneficial" to the project.

Eurasia's shares rose 2.36% on the news Wednesday to 0.65p (US0.83c).

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