Two former heads of Russia's natural resources department have been sent to prison for extorting $1 million for a license to mine platinum.

The Khabarovsky regional court sentenced Sergei Krupetsky who headed the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Nature Ministry and Vitaly Sevrin, director of Natural Resources for the Khabarovsk region, to eight and a half and eight years in prison accordingly.

According to Vladivostok News, investigations revealed that $1 million was taken from the Amur Artel of Diggers, a giant east Russian gold mining firm.

Each of the officials will serve the prison time for attempting to extort a bribe and money will be returned to the mining company.

However, the defence is looking to appeal the decision in the Supreme Court of Russia.

Investigations showed that the officials claimed if the money was not paid then a license for exploiting the Konder-Uorgolan platinum field would be withdrawn.

The extorters were first arrested in November 2003 after an accomplice was discovered to be carrying a package that contained $100,000, thought to be only part of the bribe.

A further charge was also made when Amur Artel transferred $110,700 into a Moscow bank account, although absence of evidence meant the court had to close the case.