News
Technological Breakthrough Occurred at OAO MC UGC
Phase 3 facilities of Bereznyakovsky Gold Processing Plant were commissioned in the Etkul district. The opening ceremony was attended by the President of OAO MC UGC Konstantin Strukov and Heads of the Plast and Etkul districts Aleksandr Neklyudov and Vasily Golovchinsky.
Today, the Plant is Russia’s first and only gold miner that introduced the pressure oxidation process, a cutting edge technology used to extract gold from refractory ores. The extraction rate is up to 85 % as compared to the heap leaching process used at other facilities (50 %).
“When building and operating new industrial facilities, we endeavor to benefit from all state-of-the-art scientific solutions, our own developments and projects implemented jointly with leading Russian research institutes,” said Konstantin Strukov, President of OAO MC UGC. “I hope that me made a good choice and we will achieve a positive result that is worth our effort.”
Since 2004, the specialists of the company have been hunting for an optimal technology to process the ore mined at the Bereznyakovskoe deposit. After testing all existing methods, they succeeded in extracting precious metals using the pressure oxidation technology only in 2010.
“I am amazed at what I have seen today. This is a real breakthrough in technologies of extraction of precious metals from the rock. The more stable the Plant is, the more tax will be paid to budget of the Etkul district, and the higher welfare of local residents will be,” noted Vasily Golovchinsky, Head of the Etkul district.
The commissioning of the Phase 3 facilities in the Etkul district resulted in 70 vacant positions. Today’s headcount of Bereznyakovsky Processing Plant is about 800 employees.
For reference:
The Bereznyakovskoe deposit with inferred resources of 82 tons of gold was discovered in 1990. The construction of Bereznyakovsky Gold Processing Plant was launched in 2012. To extract the precious metals, the pressure oxidation process is used. To date, the miners extracted 34.5 M cubic meters of rock, about 8.7 M tons of ore, and 4.4 M tons of oxidized ore. The depth of the open pit is 140 meters.