OREANDA-NEWS. OAO Karelsky Okatysh, part of the mining division of OAO Severstal  has won an exploration and production license for the South Korpangsky  area of the Korpangskoye iron ore deposit, the company's press service reported. The auction, organized by  the Russian Agency for the Use of Subsoil, took place on Tuesday,  October 16, 2007 in Petrozavodsk, Russia.

The license will be issued for 20 years and is extendable. The area's  reserves, including deposits South Korpangskoye, North Kostomuksha and  Korpangiyoki, are estimated at 80 million tons. The average magnetite iron content (Fe mg) exceeds 27%.

The South Korpangskoye deposit has already been explored and the  properties of ores have been studied. The company plans to begin the  development of the Western area of the South Korpangskoye deposit,  with reserves estimated at 15 million tons of ore, by 2010. Anticipated production of ore from this area will make up some 2-2.5 million tons per annum.
South Korpangsky is near the Kostomuksha deposit, which is currently a  major raw material base for Karelsky Okatysh. Kostomuksha has been  explored to a depth of 600 m, with a magnetite ore content of about 1  billion tons.

March 2007 saw the beginning of production and processing of iron ore  from the Korpangskoye deposit whose reserves are estimated at 320  million tons. It is located in the northern part of the Kostomuksha  ore deposit (5 km north of the Kostomuksha deposit). The right to use  the subsoil of the Korpangskoye deposit is vested in Karelsky Okatysh  based on the results of the tender held in July 2001 by the RF  Ministry of Natural Resources and the Government of the Republic of  
Karelia. The license is valid for 20 years and it is extendable.