Washington, 15 July 1997 (RFE/RL) - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has completed its purchase of a five percent stake in the Zeravshan Gold Company in Tajikistan, according to the western partner in the project, and agreed to provide an addition million dollars in financing.
Nelson Gold Corporation in London says the participation by the IFC, the private sector affiliate of the World Bank, gives the operation in the Zeravshan Valley of Tajikistan a very solid base.
Meantime, Nelson says it is proceeding with its purchase of a 70 percent interest in an old Soviet gold mining operation in the West African nation of Mali.
After pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the facility, the Soviet Union abandoned the huge Kalana gold mining project when the USSR broke up. Nelson has offered to get the operation going again, even though a just completed reevaluation of the project lowered its estimated total gold reserves from the 1.4 million ounces Soviet-era geologists had estimated to 1.2 million ounces.