RG Gold launches $425 mln gold recovery plant in Kazakhstan's Akmola region

ALMATY. Oct 10 (Interfax) - RG Gold has put a new gold recovery plant costing $425 million into operation in Kazakhstan's Akmola region.

RG Gold operates the Raygorodog gold mine in the Akmola region. The plant will process up to 5 million tonnes of ore per year and raise the company's annual production to 6 tonnes of Dore gold, according to a press release.

RG Gold says on its website that investment in the project was 160 billion tenge not including VAT.

Development Bank of Kazakhstan provided a loan of $300 million to build the new recovery plant, it was reported earlier.

The plant was designed by international engineering companies with a focus on production automation and the use of the latest technologies in metallurgy. AAEngineering Group was the general contractor.

"The plant will carry out cyanide destruction in compliance with international requirements. After preliminary cleaning and neutralization, all waste will be sent to a tailing dump with a volume of over 8 million cubic meters, purpose-built under the supervision of international expert," the press release says.

"For us, as a shareholder, it is important that, step by step, we turn a once unviable field into a valuable asset capable of generating profits and improving the region's prosperity," said Yerlan Ospanov, CEO of the Verny Capital group of companies, a co-owner of RG Gold.

RG Gold develops one of Kazakhstan's biggest gold deposits in the Burabay and Bulandy districts of the Akmola region covering an area of 67.7 ha and consisting of the Northern and Southern open-cast mines.

RG Gold is a limited liability partnership owned by Verny Capital and the U.S. Resource Capital Funds (RCF).