Belarus has opened a tender offering a concession in its Minsk region-based Okolovsky and Grodno region-based Novoselkovsky iron ore deposits.
Belarus' Okolovsky deposit of ferrous quartzite with reserves of magnetite ores was prepared for exploitation in 2008. Its reserves are estimated at 200 million mt, with about 25 percent Fe content. In addition, the deposit is suitable for the construction of an ore dressing plant with an annual capacity of four million mt of iron ore and 590,000 mt of metallized pellets.
According to preliminary explorations of the Novoselkovsky deposit, its reserves of ilmenite-magnetite ores are estimated at 130 million mt. The deposit is suitable for setting up an ore dressing and processing plant with an annual capacity of four million mt of iron ore and 860,000 mt of metallized pellets.
The tender for the exploitation under concession contracts of the Okolovsky and Novoselkovsky iron ore deposits will be closed on October 15, 2009. According to the concession terms, the successful investors must grant 15 percent of the final output to the state, which will be delivered on to Byelorussian Iron and Steel Works. However, the ministry noted that it would make sense to have one owner, so that only one processing plant would need to be built.
It is expected that companies from European countries with developed steel production capacities and in need of raw materials will participate in the tender.