During 2004 and 2005, through a series of acquisitions, the Group amassed a portfolio of licences covering a significant area on the eastern side of the Polar Urals in the Yamal-Nevets autonomous district. The Yamal region is a part of the Tyumen Oblast, a major centre of Russian oil and natural gas production, which contains approximately 90% of Russia’s natural gas reserves. The licence areas are west-northwest of the regional capital Salekhard, and are well serviced with infrastructure.

In the Yamal region, the Group holds licences for the Petropavlovskoye and Novogodnee Monto gold deposits, as well as Sob-Kharbeiskaya, an asset at an early stage of exploration, which is approximately 40km west from Petropavlovskoye. The Zapadnoye chromite deposit was successfully sold at the beginning of 2012.

All of the deposits lie within the Arctic Circle where the climate is extreme polar continental.