The Belarusian government has approved the offering of exploration concessions for four natural resource deposits, including two iron ore deposits - i.e. the Okolovsk and Novoselovsk iron ore deposits.
The Belarusian Ministry of Natural Resources is to prepare license agreement proposals by the spring of next year. A tender will be held, with participation of both domestic and foreign investors, to determine the holders of exploration rights for the deposits in question. According to the plan, the government will give its preference to investors interested in the exploration of both deposits, and in the construction of ore enrichment and palletizing plants at each deposit. In addition, the government reserves the right to buy 15 percent of pellets to be manufactured at the new plants and also reserves the right of first purchase of the balance of pellet production.
The iron ore reserves of the Okolovsk deposit are estimated at the level of 158 million mt. The planned mining output of the deposit is no less than four million mt of iron ore annually. Meanwhile, the reserves of the Novoselovsk deposit are estimated at 133.6 million mt.