OREANDA-NEWS. December 23, 2010. RusForest AB has, through an auction procedure, acquired a new forest lease in Magistralny, Irkutsk region, covering 125,565 hectares with an annual allowable cut (AAC) of 201,000 cubic metres, as the company said in a press release received by Lesprom Network.

The additional forest lease increases RusForest's AAC in the Magistralny area to 560,000 cubic metres, which is sufficient to cover the future raw material requirements of the sawmill under construction at RusForest Magistralny.

The lease has a term of 49 years and is located approximately 190 km north of the RusForest Magistralny sawmill. The forest area will provide an important source of raw material to the site once the sawmill, with a planned annual capacity of 100,000-150,000 cubic metres of kiln dried sawnwood, becomes operational. The intention is to connect the road infrastructure of RusForest's existing leases with the new forest lease area starting early summer 2011.

Following the acquisition, RusForest's consolidated AAC amounts to approximately 1.82 million cubic metres.

RusForest is forestry and sawmilling company operating in Eastern Siberia and the Arkhangelsk region of Russia. The company controls long term forest leases with an annual allowable cut of approximately 1.82 million cubic metres, and utilizes these resources to produce a wide range of sawnwood products.