Rosatom plans to deliver first floating power units for Baimsky copper-gold mine in Chukotka in 2028-2029 - Likhachev

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 5 (Interfax) - Rosatom plans to deliver the first floating power units for the Baismky copper and gold mine in Chukotka in 2028-2029, the state corporation's CEO Alexei Likhachev told journalists on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"The key thing for is that there is demand. We hope to deliver the first floating units in 2028-2029. The Baimskoye management can confirm these dates. For our part, we can confirm we are willing to connect them," Likhachev said.

In total, Rosatom plans to deliver four modernized floating power units with installed capacity of at least 106 MW each to supply power to the Baimsky mine.

GDK Baimskaya holds the license to mine metals within the Baimskaya area, which includes the Peschanka copper-porphyry ore deposit in the Chukotka Autonomous Region.

In 2018, the company was acquired by Kazakhstan's KAZ Minerals from Aristus Holdings owned by Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov in a deal of $900 million in cash and shares. In July 2023, GDK Baimskaya was bought by Trianon Limited, which belongs to KAZ Minerals majority shareholders Vladimir Kim and Oleg Novachuk. "Following this transaction, KAZ Minerals has no operations in Russia," the company said at the time.

Project capex has been estimated at $8.5 billion. Design capacity will be 70 million tonnes of ore a year with annual production averaging at 300,000 tonnes of copper and 490,000 ounces of gold in the first ten years.