Geologists discover over 100 tons of gold in Russia's Chukotka

More than 100 tons of gold were found on Sovinoye deposit in Chukotka (a region in the Far East of Russia). This is the largest deposit to have been discovered since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Atomredmetzoloto Company (ARMZ), a mining division of Rosatom state corporation said.

Drilling operations were carried under continuous permafrost conditions all the year round, the company said. In just three years, 123 wells were drilled (more than 32 km in total). At the moment, all prospecting, topographic-geodetic, geological-geochemical and geophysical works on the deposit have been completed.

Rosatom invested more than 1 billion rubles to create a mining cluster based on the Sovinoye deposit. The project provides for the creation of an industrial complex for the extraction and processing of gold ores with the further production of alloyed gold bars.

The launch of mining and processing production is to be completed by the end of 2028, said Vyacheslav Galaktionov, General Director of Elkon Mining and Metallurgical Combine JSC (part of ARMZ).

"For the development of the Sovinoye deposit, we plan to reach design capacity in 2029 and produce at least 3 tons of gold per year,” he said.