Kumtor Gold Enters into New Credit Facilities

On April 29, 2002, Kumtor Gold Company, a company organized under the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic (which operates a gold mining and milling operation in the Kyrgyz Republic), entered into new credit facilities with a syndicate of international banks including, JP Morgan Chase Bank, HSBC Bank U.S.A., The Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada, Macquarie Bank and Citibank, N.A. The value of the deal is US$95 million. The new credit facilities were provided as a refinancing of the original 1995 project financing of the Kumtor Gold Project in the Kyrgyz Republic and incorporate a somewhat novel guarantee structure enabling the Kumtor Gold Company to replace the multilateral agency component (including political risk insurance) of the original financing. The guarantor under the new credit facilities is Cameco Corporation, an Ontario corporation carrying on business as an integrated uranium producer and gold mine operator whose uranium products are used to generate clean electricity in nuclear energy plants around the world.
Janie Tremblay of Torys LLP acted as special Canadian counsel to Cameco and to Kumtor Gold Company. Cameco was also represented by in-house counsel Larry Korchinski. Sullivan & Cromwell acted as U.S. counsel to Cameco and Kumtor Gold Company, with a team that included Frederick Rich and Yuriy Kachuro.

Ogilvy Renault acted as Canadian counsel for the syndicate, with a team that included Jacques Demers, Sandra Nissan, David Amato and Jennifer Stam. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McLoy LLP acted as U.S. counsel for the syndicate, with a team that included Kathy Schumacher, Richard Brach and Joshua Gluck.