China's Zijin to Invest in Siberian Ore

Lunsin, a subsidiary of China's Zijin Mining Group, will invest three billion rubles ($102.4 million) in the development of a major polymetallic ore deposit in the southern Siberian Republic of Tyva by 2014, the regional government said on Tuesday. Lunsin is currently completing the largest ore dressing and processing plant in Tyva, which is expected to go into operation in 2012 and create over 770 jobs, yielding at least one billion rubles in annual tax revenues for the regional budget. "The Lunsin firm invested 3.7 billion rubles in a project to produce polymetallic ore at the Kyzyl-Tashtyg deposit and will also invest three billion rubles up to 2014," the government press service said in a statement. The Kyzyl-Tashtyg deposit is located 200 kilometers northeast of Kyzyl, the capital of Tyva. The deposit's reserves are estimated at 12.92 million tons, including 1.295 million tons of zinc ores, 202,300 tons of lead ores and 82,300 tons of copper ores. The overall investment volume in the project is estimated at 10 billion rubles and the designed capacity of the plant allows for the production of one million ton of ore per year.