Yevgeny Vishnyakov, deputy prime minister of the Trans-Baikal Territory's administration, said Mikhailovsky's proposals fully met the requirements of the local authorities.
A tender for the world's third largest copper deposit initially attracted Norilsk Nickel, Onexim, Sorsk Mining and Processing Complex, Mikhailovsky (a subsidiary of the Metalloinvest holding company), as well as a consortium involving Russian Railways, the state-run corporation Development Bank (Vnesheconombank), and the Urals Mining and Metals Company.
Onexim later abandoned the tender to avoid a conflict of interest with Norilsk Nickel.
Norilsk Nickel's board of directors decided last month it would be unfeasible to develop Udokan on its own and ordered top managers to consider prospects for doing so as part of a consortium.
Sergei Chemezov, the CEO of the state-run corporation Russian Technology Corp., said Tuesday that Norilsk Nickel had withdrawn its bid for the tender as part of a consortium also involving Russian Technology Corp. and Metalloinvest.
It also became known on Tuesday that Sorsk Mining and Processing Complex, included in the group of companies that make up Strikeforce Mining and Resources Ltd, wholly owned by the diversified holding company Basic Element, had also withdrawn its bid for the tender.
The Udokan deposit accounts for 15% of the world's copper reserves. As of January 1, 2008, its balance B+C1 reserves included 14.4 million metric tons of copper, 7,300 metric tons of silver and 1.9 metric tons of gold.
