Taking nature protection measures, Closed Joint-Stock Company Northern Urals Gold started recultivation of abandoned mines at the Vorontsovskoye deposit.
Approximately 3 million cubic meters of rock extracted during stripping at Vorontsovskoye deposit in Sverdlovsk area will be used for recultivation of mines abandoned by gold prospectors of previous decades to inhabitants of Vorontsovka settlement in Krasnoturinsk district. Development of the Vorontsovskoye deposit is conducted by Closed Joint-Stock Company Northern Urals Gold a subsidiary of Polymetal Inter-Regional Research and Production Association in St Petersburg.
Northern Urals Gold, the newest gold mining enterprise in Sverdlovsk area, maintains a careful attitude to the subsurface whence ore is extracted, and to the environment in general as a guiding principle of their operations. Only three years ago (in 1999) construction of pilot-scale production at Vorontsovskoye deposit was set up, and, to date, 2757 tons of gold and 2160 tons of silver have been returned to the state.
One of the recultivated sections (with an area of 25 hectares) was until recently a useless deep ravine. Soon it will be sown with grass and handed over to the inhabitants of the settlement to replace hayfields, which were previously in the zone of current mine development. The final decision on how to use this area (whether to turn it into a stadium, recreation zone, vegetable gardens or pasture land) will be taken by the inhabitants themselves.
Since Northern Urals Gold started the development of the deposit much has changed for better in the lives of local people: new job opportunities have appeared (approximately 1300 employees work at the enterprise), a 1.5 km water-supply system has been installed in the settlement, and the inhabitants enjoy high-quality potable water. The intake of water from Northern-Peschanoye underground water deposit is executed by Northern Urals Gold, and some of the water is utilized by the company for its own needs.
Approximately 10 km of gas-line was laid for gas supply in Vorontsovka and Rudnichnyi settlements, the population of which is over 3000 people. 7.8 million roubles have been spent on addressing social questions. Northern Urals Gold endeavors to surpass traditional environmental protection requirements that apply to mining enterprises. Its laboratory conducts constant and strict control of air quality, conditions of subsurface and surface waters in the sanitary zone of the mined deposit and on industrial production platforms.
Ten different types of air and water analysis are carried out daily. Water purification structures, which are being built at Northern Urals Gold improve the quality of water that flows into the Kakva river basin, and minimize man-induced influence on the environment. The high quality of the water is demonstrated by the report of the independent scientific expert enterprise, Hydrobiology (Ekaterinburg), which was made on the results of hydrobiological monitoring of the Kakva water basin in 2001. This monitoring is carried out for Northern Urals Gold annually. During the construction of storage tanks for production solutions (the construction of a third tank with a volume of 6 thousand cubic meters is near completion) a multistage system of isolation is applied, using both natural (clay, crushed stone) and artificial (polymeric coatings, concrete) materials.
The technology of storehouse construction, as well as the closed use cycle of production solutions, excludes any possibility of industrial components" penetrating into subsoil waters. The absence of serious censure from the regional environmental protection authorities demonstrates that Northern Urals Gold is implementing a correct and efficient environment protection policy.
source: Polymetal press-release, 23.04.02