Australia's TIG gets approval to mine coal at Chukotka deposit
ANADYR. July 1 (Interfax) - Russian state expert review office Glavgosexpertiza has approved the plans for an open-pit mine to develop the western part of the Zvonkoye coal deposit in Chukotka, the license to which is held by Beringpromugol LLC, a subsidiary of Australia's Tigers Realm Coal Limited (TIG), the agency said in a statement.
Mining will initially be done within the boundaries of the western block of the section. The decision on the eastern block will be considered separately, the chief project expert at Glavgosexpertiza's Krasnoyarsk branch, Sergei Alin said.
The mine excavation of the western block will amount to 54.6 hectares and production is expected to total 650,000 tonnes of coal per year. Given the commercial reserves of the block and the design capacity of the mine, the mine life will be four years, the agency said.
"This time should be sufficient to process the other land within the boundaries of mining work within the eastern operational block and develop design documentation," Alin was quoted as saying in the statement.
Zvonkoye is located near a section of the Fandyushkinskoye field that Beringpromugol mines. The company expects to bring the new mine up to design capacity in 2023, which will enable it to significantly increase coal production. It was reported earlier that Beringpromugol mined 1.25 million tonnes of coal in 2021.
In future, there are plans to build a washing plant at the deposit.
TIG has been developing the Amaam deposit in Chukotka's Beringovsky hard coal basin since 2012. This involves developing the Zapadny and Levoberezhny licensed areas, the latter of which is located in Amaam North. This is where the company began to develop the project, discovering the Fandyushkinskoye field, where mining began in December 2016.
TIG continues to own Russian assets, according to the company's website. Cyprus-based Rosmiro Investments Limited held 100% of Beringpromugol shares as of July 1, 2022, according to an entry in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.