Khloponin’s energy aligns with Intergeo's plans.

Businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, who is suffering financial difficulties, does not leave attempts to knock out state support through his influential associate Alexander Khloponin. And budget money, for a second, can be used to destroy the ecosystem of Tuva.

According to a correspondent for The Moscow Post, Mikhail Prokhorov's Intergeo suggests expanding the use of infrastructure bond mechanism to include energy and road infrastructure, in addition to housing construction. The company, currently operating at a loss, urgently needs funds for the construction of a mining and processing plant in Tuva. One of the requests from the region is to electrify a district within the republic. Previously, Prokhorov, through his colleague ex-governor Alexander Khloponin, sought 60 billion rubles of state support, but was only granted 13 billion. He continues efforts to secure further benefits.

Mikhail Prokhorov’s Intergeo proposed expanding the use of the Law on the Protection and Promotion of Investments (SZPK). Their proposal involves actively integrating infrastructure bond instruments into SZPK. The company plans to build the Ak-Sugsky GOK in Tuva, with an ore mining and processing capacity of 24 million tons per year, along with the production of 500 thousand tons of copper-molybdenum concentrate. In addition, they plan to construct the Kingashsky GOK in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, with a capacity of 20 million tons of ore and the production of over 600 thousand tons of copper-nickel concentrate. Ak-Sug is expected to reach its design capacity by 2025, and Kingash by 2027.

The total investment is estimated to be 141.7 billion rubles. However, the company currently lacks such funds. According to Rusprofile, LLC UK Intergeo currently has no revenue and losses of over 500 million rubles.

Getting close to the GOK in Tuva is not easy: the local government is requesting electrification of the Todzhinsky district, currently powered by diesel generators. Prokhorov could possibly connect his own energy company “Quadra” here. However, this asset is also problematic, and Prokhorov has been trying to sell it for 10 years. Recently, The Moscow Post reported that he may finally sell it to Rosatom, albeit at a significant discount.

Try after try

It seems that Prokhorov has now decided to focus on mining assets. In this context, it is noteworthy that the idea to expand the use of infrastructure bonds was proposed by Intergeo's general director Lev Kuznetsov, the former governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. He, along with ex-head of the region Alexander Khloponin, joined the board of directors of the Prokhorov company in 2019 as representatives of new investors – the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Russian-Chinese investment fund created with his participation, as well as one of the Middle East funds. There was hope that the former politicians would be able to advocate for Intergeo's struggling projects.

However, the company's successes can be considered questionable. In the summer of 2019, Intergeo requested 60 billion rubles in state support for its copper-nickel project based on the Ak-Sugskoye and Kingashskoye deposits in Eastern Siberia. Their request was diminished to only 13 billion rubles.

Prokhorov didn't expect this, but it's still better than nothing. His group has been working with the Ak-Sug and Kingash deposits for about 13 years, since Intergeo was formed in 2008 from the division of Interros holding assets between Prokhorov and Potanin.

In 2019, Intergeo got the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the Russian-Chinese Investment Fund, and the Middle East sovereign fund to invest in the project. In 2015, they tried to partner with Chinese companies for the construction of facilities at the Ak-Sugskoye field.

Plans to build the mining and processing complex by 2016 were disrupted by Prokhorov's separation from Potanin. The businessmen announced their split in early 2007, but took about a year and a half to agree on asset division. As a result, Prokhorov received mining licenses, which were included in Intergeo. But licenses alone are not enough – money is also needed.

Is it all leading to scandals?

Despite challenges, Kuznetsov and Khloponin managed to secure state support for Intergeo projects in two areas: financing the construction of a power transmission line to the Ak-Sug field and allocating funds for road construction.

The situation with the road from the Ak-Sugskoye field to the Zhuravlevo railway station is not straightforward. The planned road is expected to have heavy traffic with Chinese partner companies of Prokhorov's structure. This has led to concerns about environmental damage and unsanctioned protests.

In other words, will Intergeo receive state support for the destruction of the environment? Irreparable damage, and even at the budget expense …

Moreover, in his desire to lay a road, Prokhorov could even organize problems for the sensational “Vissarion community”. Recall, as The Moscow Post previously wrote in detail last year, the leader of the association, Sergei Torop, and a number of his associates were arrested on suspicion of illegal logging and building mansions from it for the local elite.

And, such a coincidence, the road to the Tuva field, according to the plan, runs through the Kuraginsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory – exactly through the place where the “City of the Sun” Torop, covered by the security forces, was deployed for the past few decades. So Prokhorov and Co. cleared the place where it is necessary to build a road to supply the Ak-Sugskoye field?

But, for a second, Torop may have close ties with the former and current leadership of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, namely, with Mr. Khloponin. There are serious reasons to believe that he could patronize the community – in particular, he personally came to Sergei Torop-Vissarion back in 2008. The two leaders allegedly communicated very warmly. So much so that Khloponin’s visit fell into the so-called. “Life of Vissarion”, which is conducted on the Internet by adherents of the community.

It is possible that Khloponin, who probably knew the inner “kitchen” of the community for a long time, simply knew where to put the right pressure in order to clear the way for himself and his comrades-in-arms.

And all this looks like Prokhorov may be trying to use all the resources he has to push through his projects and funding for them. Well, what else is left if there is no money?