Why go to the CIS? The vast mineral potential of the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) has long been recognised, but it has taken the
lowering of the iron curtain to open up the region to serious
mineral development consideration by the Western World. The advent of a free market economy and the emergence of the
Independent States with pressing needs for foreign investment
has led to a greatly improved investment climate. Coupled with
the desire for some of the more entrepreneurial resources
companies to head the wave of investment to the region, this
sequence of events has promised a great deal, but delivered only
modest progress to-date. Potential gold project development has provided the major
focus, for three reasons: the region is highly prospective for gold,
gold projects tend to have a relatively lower start-up capital cost
compared to base metal and fossil fuel projects and finally bullion
or refined gold is more readily transportable and easier to sell.