Georgia, Tbilisi, Sept. 29 /Trend, N.Kirtskhalia/
The Natural Resources Agency of Georgia held an auction, in which exhibited a license for production of minerals (color, noble and rare metals and barite) in the municipality of Bolnisi (Eastern Georgia).
The starting price of the lot was nine million lari ($ 1 = 1.66 lari), a source at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources told Trend on Thursday.
The license has been sold for 9.5 million lari to Madneuli JSC, which is still engaged in gold production in the Bolnisi region. There were not other contenders.
Since 2005, Madneuli JSC has been owned by Stanton Ekuetiz Corporation. All products manufactured by the company are exported and make up about a third of total exports of Georgia.
Georgian experts say Madneuli belongs to the Russian Geo Promayning Company, and therefore, 100 percent of the profit remains in Russia.
According to them, the Russian company has already made a profit of two billion dollars from the Madneuli JSC sold for $57 million by the Government of Georgia.