OREANDA-NEWS. On February 10, 2009 JSC “Polymetal” (LSE, MICEX, RTS: PMTL) (“Polymetal” or the “Company”) announced the updated resource estimate for Albazino gold deposit located in the Khabarovsk Territory in the Far East of Russia compiled in accordance with the JORC Code (2004), reported the press-centre of Polymetal.

In 2008, Polymetal completed 36,509 meters of diamond drilling and 105,204 cubic meters of trenching at Albazino, mostly on Anfisa and Olga ore zones with the objective to expand and upgrade the mineral resource. The new estimate was prepared internally (and includes all samples from work undertaken prior to December 31, 2008) and is summarized in the table below together with the previous estimate published in June 2008.

The overall size of resource increased substantially growing by c.30% compared with the previous estimate published in June 2008. Anfisa ore zone resource grew by c.19% with slightly lower grades on the back of a c.27% increase in the tonnage. Olga ore zone resource increased more than three-fold with major ore bodies remaining open along strike and at depth, which confirms Polymetal’s position that known ore zones at Albazino are substantially underexplored and have tremendous resource expansion potential.

All-in resource discovery costs for additional resource remain excellent at approximately US10 per ounce of gold.

In parallel with resource estimation prepared under JORC guidelines, Polymetal has successfully certified Albazino reserve with GKZ (the state reserve commission). The results of this certification under Russian classification system are summarized below and are given for illustration purposes only:

Exploration at Albazino continues with 26,000 meters of diamond drilling and 41,000 cubic meters of trenching planned for 2009. Efforts will be concentrated on tracing Olga ore zone to the south and establishing initial resource estimates for Ekaterina and Inilokhan ore zones.

Polymetal expects to provide new reserve estimate in accordance with the JORC Code (2004) audited by independent consultants and based on updated feasibility study in the second quarter of this year.

“We are fully satisfied with the exploration success at Albazino and expect that by the time the mine pours first gold in 4Q 2010 the resource size will further increase to 5Moz of gold,” said Vitaly Nesis, CEO of Polymetal. “Polymetal is excited about developing Albazino into a large world-class open-pit reserve with high grade and excellent cost position.”

Polymetal will continue to provide regular updates on the project’s progress.