INDIA – PUTIN – VISIT
Within the scope of the visit of Russian Prime minister Vladimir Putin to Delhi scheduled on 11-13 March, Russia intends to conclude a number of contracts for a total of $10 billion, Reuters reported citing Deputy prime minister Sergey Sobyanin. The contracts with Indian companies are likely to be signed by Rostechnologii, AFK Sistema, Sibur Holding, Irkut, Rosoboronexport, Sukhoj, ALROSA, etc., Vedomosti newspaper reported.

REGIONYUVELIR – INTERNATIONAL MARKET
Regionyuvelir group of companies commenced the new 2010 year with a landmark event being the visit of one of its major foreign partners – HORIZONT company based in Germany, Russian Jewellery Network reported. At the end of 2008 the two companies concluded strategic cooperation agreement stipulating exclusive rights of HORIZONT to represent jewellery production of Region-Kostroma factory over the territory of Germany.
According to the Head of Regionyuvelir Tatiana Filatova, such partnership between two countries looks mutually profitable as it enables discovering new markets and increasing profit for both the seller and the buyer as well as acts to attract investment.
The recent meeting in February was one of the crucial as CEO of HORIZONT Viktor Hermann visited Russia with ten new partners working with Region-Kostroma production. The visit was aimed at signing of long-term commercial contracts.

POLYUS GOLD – NATALKA DEPOSIT
In May 2010 Polyus Gold is to take decision in respect of construction of gold treatment plant having capacity worth 10M tonnes of ore per year at Natalka deposit. Start-up of the plant is planned for 2013, according to a statement made by the company’s CEO Yevgeny Ivanov during the forum Metals of CIS-2010. He added that the decision on construction of the plant to be made irrespective of the decision of investment fund concerning establishment of energy infrastructure in the region.
“Further accretion of capacity at mining and concentrating complex to 20-40M tonnes of ore per year will depend on development of energy industry in the region,” – Ivanov noted. “At present all required documentation on exploitation of Natalka deposit is prepared and state authorities to complete review within four months.”

GOLD PRODUCTION – WEST AFRICA – GROWTH
Gold production from West Africa is set to rise about 30 percent over the next 4 years, driven largely by higher output from Randgold and Iamgold, a top executive of metals consultancy GFMS said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
"In West Africa gold mine production is growing, the figures are obviously a lot smaller there, as it is a smaller sector," Managing Director Paul Burton told an event hosted by MineAfrica -- a group that promotes mining investment in Africa.
Gold production from West Africa is expected to rise by about 2 million ounces a year, or 57 tonnes by the end of 2013.
The increased output will be largely driven by Randgold's Tongon and Gounkoto projects, along with Newmont's Akyem project and Iamgold's Essakane project.
The combined gold output from Ghana, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Ivory Coast has risen more than 65 percent over the last five years to about 190 tonnes per year.
However, these West African countries are growing off a small base and despite the sharp increase these countries still account for less than 8 percent of the roughly 2,500 tonnes of gold mined globally in 2009.

Rough&Polished