Russia's leading mining company Mechel intends to spend $650-700 million on the development of a giant coal field in the Republic of Yakutia in northeast Russia by the end of this year, a company senior executive said on Thursday.
"This year we expect to invest $650-700 million in the development of the Elginskoye deposit, with the larger part of the funds to be spent on the construction of a railway," Mechel Senior Vice-President for Finances Stanislav Ploshchenko said during a conference call.
Mechel, which holds the license to develop the giant Elginskoye coal deposit with estimated reserves of 2.1 billion metric tons of coking coal, intends to put it into commercial operation in November this year.
The coal from the deposit is expected to be shipped through the port of Vanino in the Russian Far East to Asia-Pacific countries.
MOSCOW, July 15 (RIA Novosti)
