Eurasian Minerals advises that IG Copper LLC (IGC) has received approval to advance the Malmyzh Copper-Gold Project in Russia’s Far East. Approval was granted by the Russian Government Commission on Monitoring Foreign Investment chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The Malmyzh exploration and mining licences are held by IGC (51%) and Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation (49%), with IGC operating and managing the joint venture project. Eurasian is IGC’s largest shareholder with 41% of the issued and outstanding shares.

The commission’s approval marks a pivotal milestone in the development of the Malmzyh project. It represents the successful completion of the review process required for ‘strategically significant’ deposits according to Russia’s Law on Foreign Investments in Strategic Industries, also termed the Strategic Industries Law (SIL).

The SIL approval process commenced after the JV, through its Russian subsidiary Amur Minerals LLC, received certified ‘on balance C1+C2 reserves’ from the GKZ (State Reserves Committee) that exceeded thresholds for both copper and gold defining Malmyzh as a ‘strategically significant’ mineral deposit.

According to IGC, highlights of the commission's approval include:

• The JV, as a majority foreign owned business entity, has been approved to retain control of the Malmyzh project exploration and mining licences.
• The JV, therefore, maintains mining and production rights for the Malmyzh and Malmyzh North exploration and mining licences.
• The JV holds 100% of the rights for the Malmyzh and Malmyzh North exploration and mining licences, and is entitled to recover all minerals of economic value including copper, gold and by-product minerals.

Conclusion of the SIL process initiates a new, multi-year phase in the project’s development. The Malmyzh team is preparing a project document that outlines advanced plans and programs that include additional technical work (ie, drilling, exploration, metallurgy, engineering and hydrology), as well as environmental, social, and economic assessments.

The detailed project plan will be submitted to the appropriate agencies for approval. Once accepted, IGC advises that the JV will commence executing the approved project plan. This next phase of work will ultimately conclude as a detailed ‘TEO1 of Permanent Conditions’ report, which is considered to be a precursor to commencement of exploitation and mining.

Malmyzh is in the Far East of the Russian Federation, about 220km northeast of the city of Khabarovsk and the nearby border with China.
The Malmyzh porphyry district’s deposits, prospects, and targets occur within a 16km by 5km intrusive corridor concealed beneath a veneer of soil cover. Copper-gold mineralization extends from shallow subcrop to greater than 400 to 600 metres depth.

The project’s inferred resources include four of the 14 known porphyry targets on the property. At a cut-off of 0.2% copper equivalent there are 2.544 billion tonnes at a copper equivalent grade of 0.37% for 9.29 million copper equivalent tonnes, or 20.49 billion copper equivalent pounds, in accordance with the GKZ code.