Gunvor Group Ltd., through a 50:50 joint venture with Volga Resources, has completed the acquisition of a 60% stake in Kolmar Management Co. LLC, one of the Russian Federation’s leading coal producers. The deal represents Gunvor’s first foray into Russian coal mining, and will benefit from the company’s superior knowledge of the Russian energy sector and proven commodity trading skills. “Kolmar is focused on the development of a long-term strategy aimed at bringing the annual production volume from current 2 million tons to 10 million tons per year,” said Kolmar CEO Andrey Churin. “Development of Kolmar will help bring high quality coking coal reserves into production for export.”
In addition to the 50:50 joint venture between Volga and Gunvor, Bixcut Holdings, controlled by Anatoly Mitroshin, possesses the remaining 40% stake. Located in Sakha Republic of the Russian Federation, Kolmar is a coking coal mining and processing company (with reserves of more than 1 billion tons of high-quality coking coal) that operates several mines within the Chulmakan and Denisovsky coalfields within Eastern Siberia. Kolmar owns licenses for open-pit and underground mining production and is developing new projects within these exploration areas.
Based in Nicosia, Cyprus, Gunvor Group, is one of the world’s largest independent commodity trading companies. In recent years, it has diversified its investments in a number of areas—including in upsteam, pipelines, terminals and refineries—to become a truly integrated energy trading house. Coal is key aspect of this long-term growth strategy. In 2011, Gunvor purchased a stake in Keaton Energy Holding in South Africa, and also a 33% stake in the Signal Peak coal mine, which for the first half of 2012, was the highest producing longwall mine in the U.S.
