MOSCOW/KUNMING - China National Gold will invest about $420 million in the development of the Klyuchevskoye gold deposit in Russia; another $65 million will be invested by India's SUN Gold, the annual production volume is expected at about 6.5 metric tons of gold per year, the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry said.

According to the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry, during a meeting of the Russian-Chinese subcommittee on industrial cooperation, the Chinese company China National Gold and JSC West Keys signed contract documents green-lighting the implementation of the Klyuchevskoye gold deposit development project.

"The implementation of the project involves attracting Chinese investments of about $420 million. India's SUN Gold plans to invest an additional $65 million in the project," the ministry said in a statement.

"An annual output of about 6.5 metric tons of gold per year will give a powerful impetus to the development of the economy of the Zabaikalsky Territory [in the southeast of Russia's Siberian Federal District] and will increase the total extraction of precious metals in the region by 40 percent by 2020," the statement cited Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov as saying.

Previously, Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev said that the fund had plans to start using Russian Rubles and China's Renminbi rather than US dollars in its transactions with China in 2019, saying it had launched a regional fund in Chinese yuan jointly with Heilongjiang province.