Polymetal boosts gold reserves 535,000 oz at Komar deposit in Kazakhstan
MOSCOW. Oct 11 (Interfax) - Ore reserves at the Komar deposit in Kazakhstan have increased 535,000 ounces of gold, Polymetal, the project's owner, said.
Grade has remained the same at 1.8 grams/tonne. Most of the additional ounces represent an upgrade and conversion of inferred resources in the southern part of the deposit, Polymetal said, as well as new mineralized material discovered in northern part of the deposit.
Total upgraded ore reserves at the Komar deposit are estimated as of June 1, 2017 at 24 million tonnes of ore with a grade of 1.8 grams/tonne or 1.4 million ounces of gold contained. This represents a significant increase over the previous estimate with a 60% increase in tonnage and a 57% increase in gold content, further extending the Varvara hub mine life by 3 years, until 2032, Polymetal said.
Polymetal plans to mine, transport by rail and process approximately 2 million tonnes of Komar ore per year at the Varvara processing plant. This is double the 1 million tonnes per year ore production rate envisaged at the time of acquisition. In 9M 2017, a total of 1.4 million tonnes of Komar ore was processed at Varvara.
The additional Komar ore will replace lower-grade material from the Varvara deposit and consequently, increase production and result in lower costs at the Varvara processing hub, the metals miner said.
Polymetal, Russia's largest silver producer and one of the country's biggest gold miners, has operations in Magadan and Sverdlovsk regions, Khabarovsk Territory, Chukotka, Kazakhstan and Armenia. Polymetal's largest shareholders are Alexander Nesis's ICT Group with 27.13%, Petr Kellner's PPF Group with 12.69% and the family of Alexander Mamut with around 10%. The company is listed on the LSE and Moscow Exchange, with a free float of over 50%.