Putin scolds Tomtor rare earth deposit’s operator over development delays
Located in the north of the Siberian region of Yakutia, Tomtor is a key project in Russia's plans to boost output of rare earth.
Reuters reports that Romania has backed out of a deal to sell its largest state-owned copper mine, Cupru Min Abrud.
Canadian company Roman Copper Corp bid 200 million euros for the mine at an auction last month, beating out three competitors including Australian miner OZ Minerals.
The Romanian Economy Ministry received four bids for the mine, which has estimated reserves of 900,000 tonnes of copper, or around 60% of Romania’s copper reserves. Bidders included OZ Minerals Ltd., Dutch Dundee Holding, Roman Copper Corp., and Bulgarian company Ellatzite Med Ad.
Reuters quotes Economy Minister Lucian Bode saying the two sides could not agree to terms of the deal which is part of a privatization plan agreed with the International Monetary Fund to raise $2 billion this year.
The deal appears to have been hung up on three conditions: that all privatization contracts be made public, that payment had to be settled within 30 days, and that the company had to put up 32 million euros as collateral for future spending on environmental safeguards.
Cupru Min is based in Abrud, Alba County, Romania and operates the Roşia Poieni copper mine. The company says deposits amount to more than 1 billion tons with an average of 0.36% Cu and 1.8% S.
Copper production began in 1983 and the designed capacity of the mine is 9 million tons of ore extracted and processed per year with expansion to 15 million tons per year.
