The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and Bogatyr Komir Company signed a loan agreement to finance Bogatyr Komir’s investment program aimed at modernizing coal production processes at the Bogatyr mine, the press service of EDB said in a message.
The document was signed by Andrey Beliyaninov, Chairman of the Management Board, from the EDB, and Murat Abdygulov, General Director, and Nikolay Korsakov, First Deputy General Director and CFO, from Bogatyr Komir.
The EDB will extend a loan facility of 196.6 million euro for eleven years. The loan will be used to finance an investment project to modernize production at the Bogatyr mine by introducing continuous mining technology.
This is expected to raise the output to 50 million tons, improve the quality of end products, cut mining costs, and reduce adverse environmental impacts. A part of end products will be exported to Russia.
“The project supports the development of the country’s power sector,” said Andrey Beliyaninov, Chairman of the Management Board at the EDB.
“It is also important for the EDB that it has a significant integration effect. In particular, it will help enhance the efficiency of coal mining, maintain output for a longer period of time, and promote trade between Russia and Kazakhstan,” he said.
The EDB’s new loan agreement with Bogatyr Komir, one of Kazakhstan’s largest coal miners and the main employer in Pavlodar region for over 6,000 people, is the third one, in addition to the loan facilities opened in December 2011 and November 2013. Back then the Bank extended some $50 million and $25 million for seven years, respectively.
Over the first ten years from its start, the project is expected to raise coal output by an average of $75 million a year and increase mutual trade between the EDB countries as a result of coal exports by $27 million a year on average. It will also help to minimize adverse environmental impact, as extracted coal will be stored within the mines. (Trend/Ukrainian metal)