The FINANCIAL — Russia’s VTB bank has set up 570 million ruble ($19 million) credit lines to gold mining companies in the far eastern Khabarovsk region to finance their operations in the 2010-2011 gold mining season, a VTB spokeswoman said on January 24, according to RIA Novosti.
"VTB has opened credit lines worth a total of 569 million rubles for Khabarovsk's teams,” the spokeswoman said. “That is about 80 percent of the total financing for the region's alluvial gold mining operations."
VTB's clients in the region are the Ros-DV, Vostok, Niman, Primorye gold mining companies, whose 2010-2011 seasonal gold mining plan is about 1.5 tons.
The spokeswoman said the bank granted the credit lines under a special program.
"The bank's program has been in place since 1998 and stipulates seasonal and medium-term financing and the purchase of precious metals produced by gold miners," she said.
Seasonal credit lines are used to finance the purchase of fixed assets, while medium-term funds are spent on geological exploration and new production.
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