Metalloinvest's Lebedinsky GOK boosts iron ore concentrate output 9.8% in 2011
BELGOROD. Feb 2 (Interfax) - OJSC Lebedinsky GOK , Russia's biggest producer and processor of iron ore, increased production of iron ore concentrate by 9.8% to 21.765 million tonnes in 2011, parent company Metalloinvest said.
The record figure was achieved by intensifying the use of existing equipment and introducing new technology, Metalloinvest said in its statement.
As part of a project to overhaul its processing plant in 2011, Lebedinsky GOK modernized part of the No. 3 enrichment division by replacing the mill with a larger unit with higher capacity, the company said. At the end of the year, work began on overhauling infrastructure. The company is installing an automated hydrocyclone unit and automated production control system.
These measures will enable Lebedinsky GOK to maximum the benefits of the upgrades programs this year already.
The efforts to overhaul the mine and plant will continue this year. There are plans to replace two wet autogenous mills, as well as carry out pre-project work on changing the transport arrangement for delivery ore from the mine to the processing plant, which calls for the use of a conveyor.
Metalloinvest's principal beneficiary is billionaire Alisher Usmanov said.
