By Yuriy Humber

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel invited BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, to explore the largest untapped nickel deposit in Russia, after winning the rights for it at an auction today.

Norilsk, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium, paid 726 million rubles ($30.7 million) for the Iisko- Tagulsk field in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, the Moscow-based company said today in an e-mailed statement.

The deposit may contain 7.5 million metric tons of nickel, equal to the three-quarters of Norilsk's existing measured and indicated reserves. It also holds 3.5 million tons of copper and 750 tons of platinum and related metals.

Norilsk and BHP may need to invest about 2.5 billion rubles just to complete exploration in the area of the deposit, which has the potential for seven or eight mines, Norilsk said in the statement.

Billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who wants to acquire control of Norilsk through his aluminum producer United Co. Rusal, didn't bid in the auction after registering his mining company SMR for the bidding, Interfax reported today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yuriy Humber in Moscow at [email protected]

Last Updated: March 13, 2008 09:55 EDT

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