OREANDA-NEWS. January 18, 2007. The State Property Committee has announced a repeated tender for choosing an investor for the industrial exploitation of the chalk field Podkamenye in the Vetka region, Gomel oblast, BelTA learnt from the State Property Committee.

The chalk field will be used to build a new Belarusian cement mill with accompanying engineering, transport and social infrastructure. The new enterprise is supposed to be able to turn out up to two million tonnes of cement per annum using dry methods.

The tender will be held in Minsk on March 12, 2008. The tender is supposed to name the investor, which has the necessary financial, human and technological resources for the industrial exploitation of the chalk field and the construction of the cement mill. The investor is supposed to present the best investment proposals concerning the planned investments and the time required for the implementation of the investment project. The winner of the tender will have to carry out detail exploration, follow-up exploration, and the exploitation of the chalk field Podkamenye, exploration and development of raw clay fields and to build the enterprise and the accompanying facilities.

There are also plans for the integrated development of the chalk field. Additional facilities will be set up to manufacture construction materials — lime, porous-concrete wall components, dry pack mortars. Plans have been drafted for utilisation (underground disposal) of overburden affected by radionuclides following the Chernobyl disaster. As part of the project measures will be taken to protect mineral riches and the environment in line with requirements of the Belarusian legislation. Energy-saving technologies will be used for the extraction and processing of mineral raw stock.

Belarusian corporations will be used for additional exploration work with a view to preparing the chalk field Podkamenye and the raw clay field for industrial exploitation.

According to terms of the tender, the investor will be able to export 70% of the enterprise’s output and sell 30% at regulated prices on the domestic market in line with Belarusian laws.

Part of the assets in the form of shares in the companies set up in Belarus in order to implement this investment project will be gratuitously handed over to the Belarusian government.

Applications for the tender are submitted to the secretary of the commission, which resides in Office 531, 12 Krasnozvezdny Pereulok, Minsk. February 26, 2008 is the deadline for submitting applications.