Because of high debts and lack of funds for development Mechel has lost licenses to develop Pionerskoye and Sivaglinskoye iron ore deposits in Yakutia with combined reserves of over 160 million tons.
In December 2019, the Russian Subsoil Use Service stopped Mechel’s right to use the deposits ahead of schedule. The company has not fulfilled a number of license requirements.
The licenses were purchased in 2011-2012.
Pionerskoye reserves are estimated at 137 million tons of ore. The price of the license was 330 million rubles.
Reserves of Sivaglinskoye deposits were lower – 26.4 million tons.
Now, in Yakutia Mechel has only the Sutamskoye field with the forecast reserves of 1.35 billion tons of ore with the average iron content of 32% to 40%. (Ukrainian metal)