The Elga mine, located in a remote region of Russia’s Far East, is Mechel’s biggest asset and holds one of the world’s largest coking coal deposits with reserves of 2.2-billion tonnes.Mechel, which is in talks with its creditors about restructuring $6 billion in loans, sold a 49% stake in the project in 2016 to Gazprombank, one of its main creditors, as part of a debt restructuring process.
Last week, Mechel rejected an option to buy back a stake in the mine that was triggered when A-Property first expressed an interest in the asset last year and made a surprise offer to Gazprombank.