The mine and mill complex at Lunnoye, one of the largest gold and silver deposits in Russia reached planned production capacity
Lunnoye gold and silver deposit is located in the north east of Russia, 680 km north of Magadan, and is one of the largest in the country. Its mineable reserves constitute 3 thousand tons of silver and more than 14 tons of gold. Development of Lunnoye deposit, prospecting and exploration operations are carried out by closed joint-stock company Silver Territory, a subsidiary of Polymetal.
Polymetal Inter-Regional Research and Production Association started implementation of this project at the end of 1999. Construction of the mine and mill complex was conducted by the company itself, with the involvement of specialized contract organizations. More than 40 million dollars were invested in the project implementation. The enterprise now in place at Lunnoye deposit can perform the full range of operations required: ore mining and processing, leaching in the cascade of reactors, extraction of silver and gold using the Merrill-Crow process, production of zinc cement mixture with a precious metal content of up to 60%.
Moreover, Silver Territory is now conducting all possible procedures to make the operations of the mine and mill complex even more efficient and effective.Currently, the output of the complex exceeds 300 000 tons of ore per year. As a part of this program, a special plant processing zinc cement mixture into dore metal is under construction in Omsukchan settlement.
Operation of this plant will reduce costs on metal processing. At the same time Silver Territory continues its prospecting and exploration operations aimed at increasing reserves at Lunnoye deposit. From 2003 onwards, annual production of silver at Lunnoye deposit will be approximately 120 tons. This will increase the quantity of silver mined annually in Russia by 30 %. When the mine and mill complex at Ducat deposit is put in operation in September, the total amount of silver produced by Polymetal Inter-Regional Research and Production Association will exceed 600 tons per year. This amounts to over 60% of annual silver production in Russia. This will ensure that Polymetal becomes one of the leading silver producers in the world.
Today, Polymetal Inter-Regional Research and Production Association holds first place among Russian silver producers, and is in the top ten Russian leading gold producing companies. Polymetal, as the most hi-tech mining company in Russia, is part of ICT group of companies.The group also includes: open joint-stock company Baltiysky Plant, closed joint-stock company Tikhvin transport engineering plant, "Titran," and a number of other major enterprises
source: "Polymetal" press-release, 5.08.02