Polyus to prepare Nezhdaninskoye feasibility study for govt review by end-2012
YAKUTSK. April 11 (Interfax) - OJSC Yuzhno-Verkhoyanskaya Mining Company (YuVGK), a unit of leading Russian gold miner Polyus Gold International, has begun planning the development of the Nezhdaninskoye gold deposit in Yakutia and the feasibility study will be ready for government review by the end of 2012, YuVGK chief executive Igor Tsukurov said at a meeting with the regional government on Wednesday.
"The company's investment plan for 2012 provides for 608 million rubles, of which 365 million rubles will be spent on the planning for the new production facility at the Nezhdaninskoye deposit and the other 242 million rubles on support of existing infrastructure and mines, and operating expenses," Tsukurov said.
Based on the capex plans for this year, overall investment in the company since Polyus acquired YuVGK in 2005 could reach 4 billion rubles by the end of 2012, YuVGK's parent company, OJSC Polyus Gold told Interfax.
The pre-feasibility study for Nezhdaninskoye, prepared by SNC-Lavalin with Goldfields and AB Global Mining, has been presented to the company and is now being reviewed, Polyus said.
Tsukurov said the plan calls for a phased approach to the development of the deposit. In the initial phase, the Nezhdaninskoye mine and mill and other facilities are expected to be supplied with power from an independent internal source, a 24 MW coal-firmed thermal power plant, which will support production of 1 million tonnes of ore per year. An independent power plant will enable the operation to become profitable at a gold price of $1420 per ounce, he said.
Construction of the first phase is scheduled for completion at the end of 2016. The second phase calls for connecting the mine and mill to external power supply from the Maya - Khandyga - Tyoply Klyuch - Razvilka - Nera Novaya line, after which the operation will be able to boost processing to 3 million tonnes of ore per year.
"Efforts are underway to include the construction of the high-voltage line in the investment program of [power company] OJSC DVUEK for the period of 2012-2014, and the plan for the development of Russia's united power grid for the period of 2011-2017," Tsukurov said.
Nezhdaninskoye, located 450 km east of Yakutsk in the Verkhoyansk mountains, has estimated B+C1 reserves of 3.567 million ounces (111 tonnes) of gold, and C2+P1 resources of 10.308 million ounces (321 tonnes) with an average grade of 5.1 g/t Au.
It was reported earlier that Polyus plans to develop refractory ore at Nezhdaninskoye using BIOX technology. Capital expenditures on the first phase for 1 million tonnes of ore per year were estimated at $580 million. In the initial years of mining high-grade ore, annual gold production could total 200,000 ounces.
Polyus in 2009 signed memorandum of mutual understanding with Canada's Kinross Gold Corp concerning cooperation on a number of technical projects, including Nezhdaninskoye, with a view to a possible mining joint venture. Kinross regional vice president for Russia Warwick Morley-Jepson said in an interview with Interfax in 2012 that this agreement ended in 2011 and that the companies had concluded the joint development of these deposits would not be viable. A full study of the metallurgical cycle was done for Nezhdaninskoye, which has very difficult to process ore, he said. The deposit is very large with relatively high grade, but requires considerable investment in infrastructure, he said. Kinross decided in 2010 against participating in the development of Nezhdaninskoye in favour of pursuing other capital-intensive projects.
Polyus is also developing the Kuranakh deposit in Yakutia. The company declined to pursue a third project, Kyuchus, following additional exploration.
