Polyus plans to begin construction at Sukhoi Log and Chulbatkan in 2025

MOSCOW. July 5 (Interfax) - Polyus plans to begin construction at two large greenfield projects, Sukhoi Log in the Irkutsk region and Chulbatkan in the Khabarovsk Territory, in 2025, the gold miner's vice president for development and special projects, Anton Rumyantsev, said during an ESG Day event.

According to the 2020 pre-feasibility study, processing capacity at Sukhoi Log will be at least 30 million tonnes of ore per year. But the project is now in a reengineering phase, with pilot testing of ore at the company's neighboring Verninskaya recovery plant due to begin in the second half of this year.

"We are already building infrastructure, we are starting to prepare the site for the main technological facilities. And I think we will begin construction in earnest next year. We'll finalize and reveal the technological parameters of this project to the market before then," Rumyantsev said regarding the current status of Sukhoi Log.

Processing capacity at Chulbaktan could be 8-12 million tonnes of ore per year using heap leaching technology, according to a Polyus presentation. "As with Sukhoi Log, we are finishing the design and I hope we'll make a start next year," Rumyantsev said.

Three key Polyus projects - Sukhoi Log, Chulbatkan plus Chertovo Koryto in the Irkutsk region with estimated capacity of 5 million tonnes of ore - could be producing more than 3 million ounces of gold per year between them after full ramp-up. "This is essentially Polyus 2.0," Rumyantsev said.

Polyus is Russia's biggest gold miner. It develops hard rock and alluvial gold deposits in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk and Magadan Regions and Yakutia.