Aricom, the Anglo-Russian developer of mineral resources, has announced the conclusion of a conditional agreement to acquire a 29.26 percent stake in Cyprus-based Lapwing Ltd that owns LLC Garinsky Mining & Metallurgical Complex (Garinsky). This latter company in turn holds the right to develop the Garinskoye iron ore deposit. In addition to Aricom's indirect holding of a 70.22 percent stake in the project, this acquisition will increase the company's stake in the Garinskoye project to 99.48 percent.
Moreover, a conditional offer to acquire a 0.52 percent stake in the iron ore project from minor shareholders has been made by Aricom as well.
The official release from Aricom states, "In May 2007, Peter Hambro Mining Engineering ("PHME") completed a scoping study on the Garinskoye deposit. The study is based upon a mining rate of 10 million mt per annum of ore and the production of both pig iron and iron ore concentrate. Currently, Giproruda is preparing a pre-feasibility study for delivery in the first half of 2008. This study will be based upon a mining rate of between 10 and 20 million mt per annum of ore and investigates a number of methods of producing pig iron using both gas and coal as the reductant. The study will investigate the location of the process plant and iron foundry either at the Garinskoye deposit or another more optimal location where it could also process the concentrate coming from the K&S project."