The chairman of Russia's largest gold mining company, Polyus Gold, said on Sunday the company expects to conclude its acquisition of a Kazakh gold producer in September.

Kazakhstan's government approved the Russian company's purchase of a controlling stake in KazakhGold last year.

"I think that in September we will be able to say that the deal to buy the KazakhGold company has been completed," board chairman Mikhail Prokhorov told reporters during a visit to a Polyus goldmine in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk Territory.

KazakhGold is controlled by the family of board chairman Kanat Asaubayev.

Polyus Gold announced plans to buy a 50.1% stake in KazakhGold last September, but by the end of the year the Kazakh company had lost 80% of its value. In September the Russian company valued the deal at $746 million, and had planned to pay $236 million in cash ($7.95 per share), along with a 4.2% stake in Polyus.

In mid-June, the sides agreed that Polyus subsidiary Jenington International Inc would pay $269 million for a 50.1% stake.

KazakhGold mined 232,000 ounces of gold in 2007.