BOD Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov and Director of Belgorod-based Centrogiproruda Viktor Ten signed a contract regarding the designing of Prioskolskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise on January 24, 2008. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works will be developing Prioskolskiy iron ore deposit with its 45.2 million tons of valuable ore and more than 2 billion tons of unoxidized carbonate-facies iron formation. MMK’s new subsidiary was registered in Stariy Oskol, Belgorod Region, on January 11, 2008. Sergey Shergin was appointed the subsidiary’s director.

The future enterprise’s capacity and its ore deposits are expected to fully cover MMK’s iron ore needs for more than six decades, while its nice geographical position means it can be used for both domestic and foreign projects.

Centrogiproruda is to act as the general designer and to do all the exploration and project work; it is also responsible for getting its project design documentation approved of by the state expert board and for the field supervision during the construction process. All the preparatory work will probably have been completed by the first half of 2009, so the enterprise intends to start the construction of Prioskolskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise in 2009 and to launch the facility in 2016. The enterprise is predicted to produce up to 35 million tons of crude ore and some 15 million tons of pellets and iron-ore concentrate a year as soon as the year 2017. This means the company will cover MMK’s needs by 100%, MMK’s press officer says.