Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin held a meeting with the General Director of Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company Andrei Kozitsin.

According to the spokesperson for the Governor, Petr Sumin met the new head of Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant Andrei Panshin during this meeting.

Also, Andrei Kozitsin informed the Governor of the preliminary results of the enterprise’s performance in 2009 and spoke of its plans for 2010. Kozitsin believes zinc will be sold for about $1,800 per ton in 2010, which will mean the plant will be able to break even or make a profit and thus pay more taxes to the regional budget.

What is more, the business executive feels that, despite the economic difficulties, the plant keeps making all the social benefit payments and was even able to avoid redundancies and stick with the terms of the collective agreement.

The Governor praised the efficiency of Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant’s management and spoke highly of the enterprise’s social benefit schemes. He assured the businessmen that the regional authorities would support the plant in its attempts to maintain socioeconomic stability.

Finally, one of the points on the agenda of the meeting had to do with the plant’s 75th anniversary in 2010. Governor Sumin asked the region’s Industry Minister Vladimir Elistratov to work with the plant’s management on the papers related to awarding the plant’s employees with state and regional awards.