RUSSIAN gold and silver miner Polymetal yesterday bought out AngloGold Ashanti from a joint venture in Siberia for $20m (£12.6m).
FTSE 100-listed Polymetal acquired the 50 per cent it did not already own of the Veduga deposit in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region.
The companies worked on the project together from 2008 but Polymetal has found new partners. AngloGold Ashanti is a miner with headquarters in South Africa.
Polymetal said in a statement that $20m had been paid in cash and that the joint venture had now been “terminated”.
“We are satisfied with consolidation of ownership of Veduga,” said Vitaly Nesis, chief executive of Polymetal. “We believe this is the first step towards acceleration of development of this highly promising asset.”
Veduga’s expected reserves were estimated in 2010 at 2.8m ounces of gold with a metal content of 2.54-11.37 grams per tonne of ore. Polymetal shares received a boost last month after speculation that it could merge with Russian rival Polyus. However, Polymetal denied the rumours.
The company acquired a premium London listing last year and entered the blue-chip FTSE 100 index in December.
Its latest results saw sales revenue jump 45 per cent in the year ended 31 December, buoyed by 57 per cent growth in the final three months of the year.
Sales totalled $1,339m in 2011, up from $924m the year before, with the majority of that growth owing to the strong rise in copper prices.
However, Polymetal, the fourth-largest gold producer in Russia, admitted that annual gold production was flat.
