OREANDA-NEWS. On November 29, 2007 agreement on establishment of a joint venture between Samruk Holding and UC RUSAL via acquisition by Kazakh party of 50% share in Bogatyr and Severnyi coal mines has been signed in Astana, reported the Official website http://en.government.kz.

The agreement was signed by Samruk-Energo Chairman of the Board Yerlan Upushev and Director General of UC RUSAL Alexander Bulygin.

According to this document defining main parameters of the deal, Samrul and UC RUSAL will jointly operate the world’s largest open-cast coal mines.

It should be reminded that on October 29, 2007, Kazakh PM Karim-Massimov commissioned Samruk Holding to accelerate the process of returning coal reserves into state ownership due to their strategic importance for Kazakhstan’s electric power sector.

Earlier UC RUSAL acquired Bogatyr and Severnyi – open-cast mines of Ekibastuz basin – from Access Industries Inc. (USA) under the agreement to pool assets of RUSAL, SUAL and Glencore.

Following the PM’s commission, Samruk announced its intention to acquire 50% share in the coal mines.

Singing of the agreement is of great significance for further development of Kazakhstan’s coal industry and electric power sector. Coal is responsible for production of more than 80% of the country’s electric power. In the framework of the government’s Action Plan of Development of Electric Power Sector for 2007-2015 the state is also starting to implement such large projects as construction of Balkhash Thermal Power Station, expansion of Ekibastuz Electric Power Plant-2 and modernization of Almaty electric plants.

Reserves of Bogatyr and Severnyi mines allows to guarantee availability of coal for these projects, which is an important step in the package of measures taken by the Government to ensure national energy security.