At an auction held on December 3, 2003, the gold mining company Polyus, a 100% subsidiary of MMC Norilsk Nickel, won the rights for geological survey and development of the Titimukhta gold field. The winning bid of RUR 298,850,200 was significantly higher then the starting price of RUR 7,286,200. The Company's management believes that the winning price was fair and economically justifiable.

The licence to develop the deposit is issued for twenty years. The licence has the following conditions: the geological surveying and prospecting should be completed by 2005, and a full-scale production should be started by 2007. It is projected that, Polyus operating Titimikhta at the full-scale production capacity will produce at least 2 tonnes of gold per annum.

Polyus has all capacity needed to launch production at the deposit in the shortest possible time. The Titimukhta deposit is located nearby the Olimpiadinskoe gold field, one of the largest gold deposits in Russia with estimated reserves of 700 tonnes, developed by Polyus, which also operates enrichment plant in this area.

The Titimukhta gold field located in the Northern Yenisei area of the Krasnoyarsk region, was discovered in 1990, with five ore bodies identified within the boundaries of the field. The reserves are estimated at 34,278 kilograms. The average gold content is estimated at 2.2-9.5 grams per ton. The gold deposit will be developed as an open pit.