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The Yakutia Republic, one of Russia’s remote Far Eastern regions, will stage an international auction of mammoth tusks and other remains on Friday, the fourth event of this kind there.

According to Yakutia’s ministry in charge of business affairs, officials are currently performing all necessary preparations, including evaluating the items for sale, particularly their quality and price.

In Yakutia 33 companies are engaged in collecting mammoths’ tusks and remains. According to their licenses, they all are required to exhibit their findings for sale.

Annually in Yakutia the companies gather from 30 to 50 tons of mammoths’ remains. The tusks are usually found in the northern regions of the Yakutia Republic.

During last year’s auction, 14 of 34 items offered, totaling 624 kilograms (1,375 pounds), were sold, bringing in 12.2 million rubles ($502,000). The countries participating in the auction were Russia, Germany, Italy, Canada, the U.S., Thailand, France, Japan and others.

Starting from 2008 the ministry plans to introduce a system of on-line auctions with the possibility of paying via the internet.

Environmentalists support the auctions because the sale of mammoth tusks brings down the price of elephant bones on the black markets, thereby reducing the appeal of poaching.