Elkon Mining Co starts pilot gold production at Severnoye field

YAKUTSK. Sept 15 (Interfax) - Yakutia-based JSC Elkon Mining Company, which is controlled by Rosatom's uranium mining division, ARMZ, has started to produce gold at the Severnoye uranium deposit in pilot mode, ARMZ said in a press release.

Gold is being mined by heap leaching from an open pit. A road, power transmission line and hydro-metallurgical plant have been built, and the final touches are being made to the living quarters and canteen.

"Due to the remoteness of uranium deposits from the region's existing infrastructure, as well as the price situation for the strategic metal, mining [of uranium ores] is not carried out here, this is a future project. We are offsetting some of the cost of creating infrastructure to develop uranium deposits through gold mining," said Vyacheslav Galaktionov, the general director of Elkon Mining Company.

Reports have said the company is preparing to mine gold in pilot mode at the Severnoye uranium deposit in Yakutia while it is unprofitable to mine the Elkon deposit.

Rosnedra, the federal subsurface resources agency, suspended the company's other uranium licenses, for the Kurung, Neprokhodimoye, Elkon, Elkon plateau and Drazhnoye fields, in 2020 until December 31, 2025 "due to the low effectiveness of the Elkon uranium project."

Elkon Mining Company was created in 2007 to develop fields in Yakutia's Elkon uranium province.