OREANDA-NEWS. OOO Severnaya Zolotorudnaya Kompaniya (Northern Gold Mining Company), a subsidiary of Russian mining and steel company Severstal, has won an auction for the geological exploration and gold extraction rights at the Vitimkansky field in the Buryatiya Republic. The auction was held by the Subsurface Management Department of the Buryatiya Republic on  October 12, 2007.

According to the Severstal press center, Severnaya Zolotorudnaya Kompaniya's winning bid was 3.6 mln roubles from a starting price of 3.0 mln roubles. According to Severstal Resurs estimates, the resources in this field are predicted to be 15 tons of gold.