OAO Severstal has announced the multi-stage acquisition of new shares in Core Mining Ltd. Core controls exploration licenses for the Avima iron ore deposit in the Congo and the Kango iron ore deposit in Gabon. Both projects are at an early exploration stage. Avima has a multi-billion tonne resource target with grades that are greater than 50%Fe. Drilling to date has indicated high grade mineralization of up to 69.75% Fe to a depth of up to 180m. The preliminary resource evaluation is 500 million tonnes, including a minimum of 100 million tonnes of direct shipping ore. Based on an independent third party technical assessment of the exploration data currently available, Avima is expected to contain between 500 million tonnes to 1000 million tones of iron ore with significant upside potential. Severstal will initially acquire a 16.5% interest in Core. This investment will be used to fund Core’s exploration program for both projects. The transaction is expected to be completed in May 2010. Severstal has the option to make further investments in Core in 2011.