The Russian Republic of Sakha Yakutia (Yakutia) has announced that four iron ore deposits located in its territory - Taezhnoe, Desovskoe, Tarinnakhskoe and Gorkitskoe - will be sold in an open auction on 12 March, 2008.
So far, four Russian metallurgical companies, the names of which have not yet been disclosed, have registered to compete in the auction for the deposits.
Under the terms of the auction, the winner will be obliged to construct two iron ore enrichment plants, which will have to achieve a combined designed production capacity of 26 million metric tons within 12 years following the issuing of the iron ore development license, and will also be obliged to build a steel mill with an annual capacity of five million metric tons.