OREANDA-NEWS. RUSNANO has announced its partial exit from portfolio company Russian Quartz, a producer of high-purity quartz concentrates. The project was established on the base of Kyshtym Mining, the only commercial high-purity quartz producer in Russia. The new strategic investor in the project, purchaser of 16.13 percent of owners' equity in Russian Quartz, is Sumitomo Corporation, a leading integrated business group headquartered in Japan.

Russian Quartz produces high-purity quartz concentrates for a number of high-tech industries. Most notable among them are the electronics and solar industries, where transparent quartz glass made from the concentrate is an intermediate in the production of monocrystalline silicon without substitute.

The project to technically refine and re-equip manufacturing processes was begun in 2011 with financial support from RUSNANO. The first production line for dry separation is already operating, and soon Russian Quartz will launch its first line for deep enrichment of quartz. Sumitomo's entry will enable the company to reach design capacity and manufacturing targets earlier than formerly expected.

Speaking of the sale of shares to Sumitomo, RUSNANO managing director Alisher Kalanov commented: “For us this is an notable event. We are extremely pleased to welcome a partner of such stature as Sumitomo. The corporation's experience, its financial and marketing capabilities, will do much to accelerate project development. This is, as well, the first occasion where shares of RUSNANO portfolio company have been purchased by a large strategic investor. With the entry of Sumitomo Corporation, Russian Quartz has the drive it needs to become one of the key participants in the global market.”

“Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest players, Japanese and global, in the microelectronics and solar energy markets. With our investment in Russian Quartz, we have full rights to the claim of a vertically integrated company and, arguably, of the only company in the world that holds assets encapsulating the entire production cycle, beginning with high-purity quartz sand and ending with microchips and solar panels,” Deputy General Manager, Industrial Minerals Project Dept. No.1 Masahito Uno said.