Milestones

Full-scale construction began, with more than 1,000 persons from 15 contracting organizations working at the MPC construction site. Industrial and auxiliary facilities are being built simultaneously: concentration plant, administrative and utility building, gas station, assembly and storage platform, silo storehouse for apatite and nepheline concentrates, technological service and repair workshop. An opencast mine, road, bypass channel and tailing dump are currently under construction. The concrete mixer and the crushing and screening complex are already operational, providing the construction site with sand, rubble and concrete. Komatsu mining equipment was purchased, since the Japanese firm’s technology has been shown to operate well in the severe conditions of the Far North. More technology and equipment will be purchased for the facilities under construction.

An agreement concluded between the Company and the Kirovsk city administration for 2010 will result in a grant of RUB 59 million to finance social and economical events in Kirovsk and nearby territories.

Construction of the MPC began. The administrative and utility building that houses NWPC’s Kirovsk branch office and all the technical services was built on-site. A road was constructed to connect the MPC site with the future opencast mine as part of the transport infrastructure project.The site's vertical layout was established and preliminary work was carried out to form the foundations for the main and auxiliary industrial facilities. The building site for the crushing and screening complex was prepared and the concrete mixer was delivered and installed. Also in 2009, NWPC obtained a license for extraction of sand-and-gravel mix from the South Kitcheyavr deposit.

NWPC signed a contract with electricity provider Inter-regional Distribution Network Company of the Northwest to supply the site with electricity.

The Company also signed an agreement with the Kirovsk city administration on cooperation in the social and economic sphere for 2009 and transferred RUB 16 million for development of Kirovsk and the settlement of Koashva.

The construction project for the Oleniy Ruchey MPC was finished, and in June the project was presented for approval to the State Expert Appraisal Committee. It was approved by Glavgosekspertiza of Russia on September 30, and the construction permit for the complex was issued on October 24.

In October of the same year, NWPC signed an agreement with the Murmansk regional administration on social and economic partnership, cooperation and interaction for the years 2008-2013. The Company also signed a similar agreement with the Kirovsk administration for 2008.

Construction of the Oleniy Ruchey apatite-nepheline ores deposit mining and processing complex began, with Giproruda acting as general designer. Simultaneously, design and exploration work was conducted on the site of the future mining and processing complex and industrial ore samples were obtained. A temporary road leading to the site was constructed, and in September a commemorative sign was installed at the location of the future MPC site.

NWPC turned to Giproruda (St. Petersburg), a leading institute specializing in the design of mining enterprises, for a technical and economic feasibility study of extraction and processing the apatite-nepheline ores deposits located at the Oleniy Ruchey and Partomchorr sites. On the basis of this study, technical proposals for developing these deposits were designed and NWPC used this data to participate in a tender held by the Russian Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency in Murmansk.

On October 12, 2006, NWPC won the license for the right to mine deposits at the Oleniy Ruchey site. The Partomchorr tender was cancelled due to the lack of competitors, but since NWPC had already presented a feasibility study and competitive offers, it was granted the right to develop Partomchorr as well. By November 7, 2006, NWPC had obtained all the necessary licenses.

North-Western Phosphorous Company was founded by Acron on August 11, 2005 with Sergey Fedorov as CEO. Together with a team of experts, Fedorov collected and analyzed data on phosphates deposits available at Russia's raw materials reserve fields. The Oleniy Ruchey and Partomchorr deposits, both located in Murmansk region, were believed to be the most promising, so Fedorov handed the collected data over to Acron for further consideration. For years, Acron management had been interested in the possibility of creating a phosphate raw material base to supply its downstream facilities with apatite concentrate. Based on the opinions of the exploration geologists who were the first to discover these deposits and the scientists at the Kola Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the initiative was approved.

The first presentation on NWPC took place on October 4, 2005 in Moscow. The representatives of federal and regional legislative and executive authorities, scientists and developers who took part in the presentation all supported the idea of constructing a new mining and processing industrial complex in Murmansk region. Among the key advantages of the project were replenishment of apatite concentrate deficiency in Russia, demonopolization of the domestic markets for apatite and nepheline concentrates, job creation, regional investment and increased tax revenue.