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RUSSIAN PLATINUM APRIL 2016 • E&MJ; 47 www.e-mj.com enter into a list of top three of the world's largest producers and strengthen Russia's position in the [global] market of PGMs. The project would be very profi table even with conservative price forecasts for plat- inum and palladium." According to Galaev, RP initially tar- geted to launch construction of the rele- vant infrastructure in 2014, commission- ing a refi nery and metallurgical plant in 2017. However, this strategy has been postponed for two years, so constructiois now scheduled for 2016, while the ac- tual commissioning should take place in 2019. Galaev thinks the new production cluster will comply with the most strin- gent environmental standards. No Confi dence in the Plans Since it purchased the license to develop the Chernogorsky deposit and Norilsk-1, RP has revised its plans several times. As a result, the company has faced sharp criticism from Russian offi cials, some of whom claim the company bought the as- sets with no intention to develop them. According to Alexei Mukhin, CEO of Russian center for political information, when the company was competing for the license to get the deposit against Norilsk Nickel, the issue was resolved by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkov- ich, who is believed to be a close friend of Musa Bazhaev. "The intervention of political heavy- weights in this case, was not benefi cial for the business interests," Mukhin said. "Norilsk Nickel would be able to fi nd the necessary funds to develop the pro- ject. But Bazhaev's company has been marking time for almost two years, unable to start." In the autumn of 2014, Bazhaev sold part of his stake in Alliance Oil Co. for about $1.5-$5 billion, according to mar- ket analyst estimates. Russian media said that shortly afterward, business affi liates purchased the Forte Village resort in Sar- dinia, a place Dvorkovich frequents. In 2015, it is believed that Bazhaev appealed to the Russian budget for guar- antees on a loan for RP's project in the amount of RUB 220 billion ($3.5 billion). This caused a tide of protests among of- fi cials, politicians and representatives of the mining industry, who claimed that in the context of sanctions and the country's poor economy, it would be inadmissi- ble for Russia to loan money to a group which does not intend to build mines and mills, but invest money in expensive for- eign resorts. "From the very beginning, that is from the summer of 2013, it was quite ob- vious that RP will not be able to imple- ment the project [for development of Chernogorsky deposit and Norilsk-1]," said Professor Nikita Krichevsky, chief researcher of the Institute of Econom- ics at the Russian Academy of Science. "RP simply does not have the necessary resources and technologies to develop these projects. Moreover, it is unclear why for no apparent reason the govern- ment would not issue a license to Norilsk Nickel, which would be quite logical, but instead to RP." Some have now called to cancel RP's license for development of de- posits in Krasnoyarsk Krai and grant them to another company. As a re- sult, RP's offi cials have made repeated statements assuring that the company is going to begin mining, despite any challenges. Today, RP is the second largest pro- ducer of platinum in Russia, after Norilsk Nickel, which has an annual capacity of 20 mt. In 2015, RP increased the vol- ume of platinum production at Kondyor deposit by 19% compared to 2014 to 2.8 mt. RP's heads also disclosed plans that, shortly after mining launches at the new deposits, it will go for an IPO. "Back in October 2011, RP was ready to conduct an IPO, but we decided to postpone the step due to the negative conjuncture at the world's metal market, as it was clear that we would not get the Due to the harsh climate of the region, Russian Platinum can only mine for roughly six months out of each year. Russian Platinum's operations in central and eastern Russian.