Titanium magnetite mine in Amur to start operations in 2023
BLAGOVESCHENSK. Aug 31 (Interfax) - Baikal-Amur Mining Corporation, a Moscow-based firm that bought out the assets of Olekminsky Mine in Amur Region along with its license to the Kuranakhskoye titanium magnetite ore deposit, is ready to start operations next year.
"Baikal-Amur Mining Corporation is reviving production of ilmenite concentrate in the north of Amur Region. The development of the Kuranakhskoye deposit will already start next year," the regional Investment Agency said in a statement.
The company is now doing restoration work at all process stages, including crushing, separation and others, the agency said. This work will continue until the end of next year.
"The restoration of the mine is the first phase of the project that the investor began last year. Documents on the expansion of the boundaries of the Priamurskaya priority development area are being processed for the second phase to modernize the plant. Tax breaks and preferences will make it possible to save funds and create new jobs," agency director Olga Temchenko was quoted as saying in the press release.
The investor planned to start initial mining work at the beginning of 2022. The second stage is to reach former capacity of 1 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate and 300,000 tonnes of ilmenite concentrate per year.
"Preparations for mining are now underway. It is scheduled to begin in September of this year. Next year there are plans to process 160,000 of ore," the agency told Interfax.
There are reserves of more than 15 million tonnes of ore for concentrate production. In future, the investor planned to increase design capacity to 2 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate and 300,000 tonnes of ilmenite concentrate per year.
It was reported earlier that Baikal-Amur Mining Corporation plans to invest 5 billion rubles in restoring and modernizing Olekminsky Mine, which was previously wholly owned by IRC. The titanium magnetite deposit had been in a state of care and maintenance since the spring of 2016, and in the middle of 2018 Olekminsky Mine went into receivership after the Federal Tax Service initiated bankruptcy proceedings with a claim of 152 million rubles.