Within first half of 2006, Zinc Plant of Chelybinsk JSC produced 70,140 tons of zinc and zinc-based alloys, which exceeds the corresponding figures for the previous year (52,733 tons) by 33%. The company’s zinc and alloy sales have come to 5.58bn RUR in the six months of 2006, which exceeds the sales in the first half of 2005 (1.855bn RUR) by 200%. The company has also supplied the home market with 59% of the company’s production output Within 2006, the company is going to produce 150,000 tons of zinc and alloys, the spokesperson for Zinc Plant of Chelybinsk said to UrBC representative.

Evrazruda JSC (part of Evraz Group) started a long-term development program scheduled to last until 2015. The program will cover three Russian subjects: Kemerov Region, Khakasia, and Krasnoyarsk Region. The projected investments are part of the general investment strategy of Evraz Group. The development program allows for multi-faceted modernization and renovation of the company’s mines and processing plants. The new mining and processing facilities will be introduced in Tashtagolskiy, Sheregeshskiy, Kazskiy, Abakanskiy, and Gurievsky mines. The processing plants of Abagurskiy and

Trustee in bankruptcy of ChelyabCokeChimRemont CJSC announced an auction aimed at selling the assets of the company, namely, part of the unfinished production site with the area of 2,192 square meters. The opening bid is 2,470,000 RUR. The auction will take place on September 5, 2006.

After they checked out the way the money meant for financing Sverdlovsk Region Governor health programs (maternity projects and special programs for polyclinics, in-patient hospital departments, and emergency care) was actually handled, the public prosecution authorities of Alapaevsk, Sverdlovsk Region, initiated a criminal lawsuit (with charge of abuse of power, Clause 286 (Part 1) of Russian Criminal Code) against the director of Alapaevsk office of the Bank of Russia. The investigation revealed that the director violated the Russian Budgetary Code by transferring 2.5 million RUR (meant for

Uralinkombank summed up the results of its activity in the first half of the year. The amount of money attracted to client accounts came to 562,964,000 RUR on July 1, 2006. The amount of money on natural person accounts reached the point of 382,691,000 RUR. The loan portfolio amounted to 483,700,000 RUR; the bank’s assets grew to 666,109,000 RUR. The company has also made 4,593,000 RUR of profit within January to June reports the spokesperson for the bank.

Ural subsidiary of Industrial Construction Bank JSC won the competition held among the banks of Nizhniy Tagil by offering the best terms of loan to the city council In June 2006. On July 17, 2006, the bank produced the first trance via a non-renewable line of credit. The loan is worth 200 million RUR and was given for a term of 15 months and a 9.9% interest rate.

10,000 foreign workers will get their visas and come to Sverdlovsk Region to work in 2007. This is the number determined at the sitting of Sverdlovsk Region Government Interdepartmental Committee for Foreign Workforce Issues headed by First Deputy Head of Cabinet Galina Kovaleva, reported the spokesperson for the Governor today. The figure was set at 8,000 for 2006, yet the region will need more workers next year due to a number of factors. Firstly, the regional population of working age is continually decreasing, secondly, the growth of the gross regional product leads to a greater demand