Russian Vneshtorgbank and Armenian Copper Programme sign $257 million
loan agreement
2007-12-08 13:18:00
ArmInfo. Russian Venshtorgbank (VTB) signed a $257 million loan
agreement with Armenian metallurgical company Armenian Copper Programme
(ACP) on 8 December to explore Tekhut copper and molybdenum deposit in
the north of Armenia. VTB Board President and CEO Andrey Kostin said at
a briefing in Yerevan, Saturday.
He said it is a 12-year loan agreement and the largest project of the
bank in Armenia. The project is rather risky despite the conservative
approach to risk assessment. A. Kostin connects the largest risk with
the possible change of world metal prices. However, the higher is the
risk the higher is the profitability of the given loan, A. Kostin said.
President of ACP and CJSC Tehkut Valery Mejlumyan, who signed the loan
agreement on the Armenian party, says the agreement is of investment
nature. CJSC Tekhut has been especially created for implementation of
the project. VTB shares the risks with ACP and the profit in case of
successful implementation of the project. He stressed that the bank
reserves ‘Jus Primae Noctis’ in other projects as well. Particularly,
ACP at present conducts a geological exploration of 2-3 new ore
occurrences not far from Tekhut deposit for cooper and gold. The bank
is ready to participate in these technical projects.
As it was reported earlier, ACP started exploiting Tekhut deposit in
2011. Within the coming 4 years all the necessary infrastructures are
to be established and a new processing plant is to be built with an
annual production capacity of 7 million tons of ore. Ore reserves in
deposit make up 450 million tons, copper reserves – 1.6 million and the
average copper content being 0.355%. Molybdenum reserves total 99,000
tons with the average content being 0.021%. ACP plans to recover
25-30,000 tons of copper and 800 tons of molybdenum annually to secure
40-50% of total copper recovery and 20% of molybdenum recovery in the
country. ACP was licensed to exploit Tekhut deposit in 2001 for 25
years.