Our country’s largest bank has received $1.4bn from partners for the construction of Slavkali ore mining and dressing facility, in the Lyuban District. Investments into the Nezhinsky section of the Starobin potash salt deposit will allow up to two million tonnes of potassium chloride to be extracted annually. At the present time, Belaruskali extracts around 10.3m tonnes each year from its mining facilities in Soligorsk.
After signing the loan agreement
“Negotiations to sign a credit agreement to finance the construction of the new factory haven’t proceeded easily but, to the satisfaction of all sides, we’ve finally reached the final stage. We still have much work ahead but I think that the project will be implemented on time and will reach target figures,” stressed the Chairman of Belarusbank’s Board, Sergei Pisarik, during the signing ceremony.
Terms of the agreement between Belarusbank and the CDB haven’t been revealed. However, in May 2015, when a memorandum was signed between the Finance Ministry, the CDB, Belarusbank and Slavkali Company, the following figures were announced: the credit rate was to be 4.3 percent per annum while the loan was for 14 years, with the first payment to be made within five years.
Total injections into the construction of the ore mining and dressing facility should total $2bn (taking into account the share of Slavkali Company). It should be noted that investments will be sent for the construction of the factory, as well as for the development of infrastructure for its functioning in the Lyuban District. The construction process of the facility envisages the opportunity to bring gas to 21 settlements, to build a railway station and to lay 37km of railway line to transport fertilisers. Moreover, Lyuban water supply point and waste disposal facilities are to undergo reconstruction.
A ceremony launching construction of the Nezhinsky ore mining and dressing facility took place last September, attended by Alexander Lukashenko. Together with Russian businessman Mikhail Gutseriev, he laid a capsule bearing a message to our descendants, beneath a plaque on the construction site. At that time, the President asserted that the launch of the complex would bring around $860m of additional exports per annum. Agricultural manufacturers from China will be major buyers of potassium produced at the Nezhinsky ore mining and dressing facility for several years to come.
By Vyacheslav Ivanov
