The license has hung up

The Mogochinsk Mining Company (MGRC), a joint venture of the Mangazeya group (owned by businessman Sergey Yanchukov) and state corporation Rostek, has not received a license for the Ithaca gold ore deposit in the Trans-Baikal region, which it agreed to purchase a year ago. A source close to the Mangasee reported this to RBC.

"Mangazeya" established a joint venture with Rostekh (the state corporation received 25% in it) in the spring of 2017 to buy a license for this deposit from the owner of the Ksenievsky Prikas, Victor Lituev, wrote the Kommersant newspaper. More than a year has passed, the deal is not yet closed. A source close to Mangasee says that the seller refuses to transfer the license. And the general director of the Ksenievsky Prizy, Yegor Lituev (Viktor's son), told RBC that the buyer does not want to pay for it.

Mangazeya plans to settle this dispute on a pre-trial basis and expects Lituev to fulfill his obligations. He was already sent a corresponding claim, "- said a source close to the" Mangasee. " The official representative of the group refused to disclose the structure and amount of the transaction, citing confidentiality.

Yegor Lituev told RBC that the deal was not completed because Yanchukov did not fulfill his obligations to pay: "In April 2018, Sergei Yanchukov told Viktor Lituev that he would not pay for the asset." He also claims that the parties to this deal are Viktor Lituev and Sergei Yanchukov, and Rostek is not involved in the negotiations: "We have never met with representatives of the state corporation."

A representative of Rostekha informed RBC that negotiations on the purchase of a license for the Itachinskoye deposit are being conducted by Mangazeya as an operating and controlling partner in the joint venture. He refused other comments.

Kommersant wrote that the role of Rostech in the joint venture with Mangazeya was lobbying: by analogy with the joint venture with Polyus, which won the license for the Sukhoi Log deposit, soon after winning the auction, Rostek decided to sell its share in this joint venture. According to the source of the publication, the state corporation plans to withdraw from this enterprise after obtaining a license for the Itachinskoye field. The representative of Rosteha does not comment on this.

Mutual claims

According to Lituev, Jr., Mangasee was given an advance payment of the management of the Itaka gold mining company (IZK), which now owns a license for the same-name deposit, and its shares were to be received by the company after payment. According to SPARK, from November 22, 2017, 99.98% of the Itachinskoye gold mining company belongs to the "Upper Amur Fisheries" (50% of its shares belong to Viktor Lituev and the "Alliance" Sergey Yanchukov), another 0.01% of the company - from Lituev and " Alliance. " Thus, Yanchukov's effective share in the IZK is already 50%.

"Yanchukov had to transfer money for the asset a year ago, but he did not do it. Viktor Lituev sent a complaint to Sergei Yanchukov on June 15 this year, in which he asks to pay a deal and a penalty for the year of the delay, "says Yegor Lituev.

In response, Yanchukov named Mogochinsky mining company as a buyer, although there was no legal relationship with this structure in the sale of the asset, Lituev added. The MGRC figured in the documents of the deal, and it was this enterprise that was supposed to obtain a license for the Ithaca field, a second source close to Mangasee parries. He attributes the delay in transferring rights to this deposit to the fact that Lituev Sr. at the last moment blocked the deal and demanded to reconsider its terms, including increasing the value of his share. But Yegor Lituev denies this: "There was no question of any increase in the amount of the deal, we just asked to pay a penalty," he emphasizes.

Rocks for sale

The license for the Ithaca gold deposit with reserves of more than 62 tons of gold since 1998 was owned by the company Ksenievsky Prisk. Under the law on mineral wealth, it refers to areas of federal significance (over 50 tons of gold) and, according to Yegor Lituev, was developed from 2004 to 2008. There is already a gold recovery factory and all necessary infrastructure, including power lines, he added. In 2008, Rosnedra decided to revoke this license ahead of time, because the company did not re-evaluate the reserves on time and did not put them on balance, but the Ksenievsky mine was able to defend its rights to it, wrote Kommersant. Later, the license was extended until December 31, 2023, and in 2016, the "Ksenievsky Priisk" reissued it to the Itaka gold mining company.

Viktor Lituev previously negotiated the sale of a license for the Ithaca field from Intergeo Mikhail Prokhorov, as well as Gazprombank. The consultant who prepared the asset for sale told RBC about this. Lituev Jr. told RBC that there had been no negotiations with Intergeo, but that the company was trying to create obstacles to work, so the owners of the Ksenievsky Prizy wrote a statement to the law enforcement agencies about threats from the then general director of Intergeo, Maxim Finsky. Negotiations with Gazprombank on joint work were conducted, but ended with nothing, added Lituev.

According to the industry consultant, arsenic is present in the ore deposits, so a special technology is needed for its development. In addition, there are gold deposits on the territory of the deposit, which are developed under existing licenses, and they will also have to be redeemed. The interlocutor of RBC estimated the asset more than $ 100 million.

From the end of 2014, the structures associated with Yanchukov began to lend to the Ksenievsky Prizisk (then still owned a license for the Itachinskoye field), and since May 2015, Yanchukov himself and his team members have joined the board of directors of the gold miner as independent directors, wrote Interfax ".

The list of subsoil plots of federal significance includes 65 deposits containing gold and other precious metals. Almost all of them are shared by large companies belonging to Forbes list members, such as Polyus, controlled by the son of Suleiman Kerimov Said, Highland Gold Roman Abramovich and partners, Polymetal Alexander Nesis, Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Potanin. In the undistributed fund there were only a few licenses for such deposits, so a serious struggle is unfolding for them, says Maxim Khudalov, director of the corporate ratings group of ACRA. In addition, the Itachinskoye field, unlike all these sites, is also well located - 50 km from the railway, he noted.