Chelyabinsk region-based ore and mining factory Kyshtym GOK has received the first $11.8m tranche under the agreement with Rusnano on development of production facilities, news agency RIA Novosti reports citing the regional ministry of economic development and Rusnano.

According to Rusnano, the investment agreement with the Kyshtym GOK on expansion and re-equipment of production of highly-pure quartz concentrates, used in microelectronics, was signed in August 2011. The project investment will total $69m, including $23.5m contribution from Rusnano.

“The first tranche, allocated to the Kyshtym GOK, will be spent on re-equipment of existing production of highly-pure quartz concentrates for obtaining base materials of nano-electronic, optic, light and chemical industries,” the regional ministry of economic development said.

As Rusnano reported earlier, the project on technical re-equipment of production facilities of the factory would be realized in two stages within three years. As a result, the Kyshtym GOK will grow production by six times – from 1,500 to 10,000 tons of quartz concentrates annually.

Under the first stage, by mid-2012, the factory will grow output of quartz materials to 6,000 tons per year. For information, currently global market of quartz concentrates totals about 60,000 tons. “This way, Rusnano’s investment will enable the Kyshtym GOK will take a significant place on the global market, which currently experiences sharp deficit of quartz concentrates due to high growth rates (about 25% per year) of solar energy,” the company said.