OREANDA-NEWS. In the course of a meeting of the Government Commission on the Socio-Economic Development of the Far East in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev Vnesheconombank and LLC Elgaugol (a member of Mechel Group) signed a credit agreement on extending 150 million US dollars in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

On behalf of Vnesheconombank the agreement was signed by Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev and on behalf of LLC Elgaugol - by LLC Mechel Board Director Igor Zyuzin.

A decision on the Bank's participation in funding the project "Development of a North-West Section of the Elginsk Coal Deposit in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the amount of 2.5 billon US dollars was made by Vnesheconombank's Supervisory Board in September of 2013. All in all three credit lines are expected to be opened (the second line with a drawdown limit of 2 085 million US dollars, the third one with a drawdown limit of 418.7 million US dollars). The transaction also provides for Vnesheconombank to purchase a stake of 0.01% in LLC Elagaugol's charter capital.

The project provides for implementing the first stage of the Elginsk coal deposit development with coal in place reserves of 2.1 billion tons by way of constructing an open cut colliery as well as a coal mining and processing integrated works with a rated capacity of 11.7 million tons of coal per year. This deposit is among the largest three undeveloped coal deposits in the world. The project's total value is 4.74 billion US dollars.