Millhouse Capital, an investment vehicle for Russia's number one on the Forbes list, Roman Abramovich, has bought its first gold mine in the Chukotka Region, governed by the billionaire, a respected business daily said.

Vedomosti quoted sources close to Millhouse as saying the London-based investment company had bought the Dvoinoye gold mine in the northeast of Russia, which experts said was small but had vast reserves and could have cost $50-70 million.

Millhouse spokesman John Mann confirmed the deal. The paper cited a top manager of the Chukotka gold miner, a previous owner of the field, as saying Abramovich, who is best known outside Russia as the owner of the Chelsea soccer club, might buy several small gold mines in Chukotka and then move on to gold assets in neighboring regions.

Abramovich's first deputy in the Chukotka administration, Andrei Gorodilov, told Vedomosti that the development strategy of the region until 2020 provided for raising gold production from 4.5-5 metric tons to 30-50 tons per year.

“For this purpose, we attract investors to the region and welcome such an investor as Millhouse,” he said. Abramovich, 40, topped the Forbes Russia list for a third time with a fortune of $19.2 billion in April.