Polymetal launches new gold, silver mine in Khabarovsk

Interregional Scientific-Industrial Combine Polymetal Rosbalt today, the geological study and industrial operation of the mine in the Okhotsk District of the Khabarovsk area are being carried out by Okhotsk Mining-Geology, a daughter firm of Polymetal. The complex just launched includes both the Khakandzhinsk (discovered in 1960) and Yurevsk (discovered in 1975) ore sites.

Polymetal began preparations at Khakandzhinsk in 1999 and in 2003 completed work on the infrastructure of the complex. The complex is expected to have a capacity of 500,000 tonnes a year. When the operation reaches that level, it is expected to yield up to 80-85 tonnes of silver and more than 4 tonnes of gold yearly. Overall reserves of the site are estimated at 59.63 tonnes of gold and 2,668 tonnes of silver. More than USD 100 million has been invested, overall, in bringing the mine into operation. With the coming on line of Khakandzhinsk, the gold output of the holding is expected to double, which should make it a certain member of the 15 largest gold and silver mining companies in the world.

The Yurevsk site is 60 kilometres northwest of Khakandzhinsk and is looked on as a supplementary source of raw material for the mine works. Geological data suggest that further surveying studies can increase the size of the field by an order of 1.5 to 2.

Polymetal was created in 1998 and is a vertically integrated holding for the management of projects in the field of precious metals mining. Currently, the holding comprises five mining operations and six associated enterprises in the Sverdlovsk Region, Buryatia, Khabarovsk area, Sakhalin, Chitin and Magadansk Regions as well as a research and design institute in Saint Petersburg. The firm holds 17 licenses for precious metals ore sites and geologically promising areas. It is the top producer of silver in Russia. Overall, the holding has precious metal reserves of 22,417 tonnes of silver and 205 tonnes of gold. Polymetall along with Baltisky Zavod, the Inkotek group of transportation and logistics companies, and several other enterprises are part of the IST group.

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