Norilsk to probe ownership of Prokhorov mine assets

By Robin Paxton

MOSCOW, July 25 (Reuters) - Russian miner Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM) will challenge an outgoing executive over ownership of several metals deposits he plans to take with him to a new company created by former Norilsk co-owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

Maxim Finsky, head of geology at Norilsk, is moving to the Intergeo company that Prokhorov launched on Thursday with the intention of spending $10 billion over the next five years developing copper, nickel, titanium and precious metals fields.

Some of the deposits unveiled by Intergeo, including the Iisk-Tagul field -- Russia's largest untapped nickel field -- were acquired by companies understood to be close to Norilsk during Finsky's tenure at the company.

They are all exploration and development projects and have no bearing on the company's current or short-term production.

Norilsk said on Friday it would carry out an investigation "to clarify the legal grounds on which the deposits acquired within the framework of projects run by Mr. Finsky when he served for Norilsk Nickel are mentioned as projects to be developed by Intergeo".

The probe does not concern all Intergeo assets.

Finsky, who still works for Norilsk, was not immediately available for comment.

Prokhorov's investment company, Onexim Group, said it plans to become a top-three global metals miner by developing deposits throughout Siberia and northwest Russia.