OPERATION FOCUS
Kyzyl is a remarkable turnaround success story for
Polymetal which has triumphed where others have failed
the sum of Inferred and Indicated categories, and
the resource will increase further following
further drilling that is taking place in 2019.
POX-2: unlocking even more value
Another big development is a second POX plant
known as POX-2 at Amursk which was approved
in February 2019 and will process ore not only
from Kyzyl but also Nezhda, Mayskoye and Voro.
In September 2019 the autoclave foundation ditch
had been excavated and the foundation concrete
bed was being prepared; with detailed
engineering in full swing and all long-lead
equipment contracted. Polymetal hopes that POX-
2 will further unlock the value of its substantial
“double refractory” reserve base (55%). First
production and full ramp up are expected in 2023.
separation using FLSmidth Knelson gravity
concentrators and Weir hydrocyclones; and a
parallel regrind circuit using an Outotec ball mill
followed by rougher, scavenger and three banks
of cleaner flotation, then to another bank of Weir
hydrocylones. The low carbon (LC) concentrate
goes straight to three Outotec filter presses and
horizontal dryers then direct to the Amursk POX
plant, with the high carbon (HC) material going
to Outotec thickeners then to drum dryers and
third-party transportation. All the flotation cells
are mechanical Outotec TankCells of various
capacities. The plant uses both an Outotec ACT
advanced process control platform with Outotec
RockSense online particle analysers and a plant
wide SCADA system from Russia’s Cnhetnk.
Water comes both from the Kyzyl Su dam located
9 km south of the mine site and the Kyzyl-Tu
borefield located 3.5 km from the mine. There is
a 110 kW national grid power line on site
supplying a 110/35/6 kV step-down substation.
300,000 oz in 2019 and 330,000 oz in 2020. In
2019 the share of concentrate to the Amursk POX
facility is 40% with 15% to West China (railed to
Alashankou) and 45% to East China (railed to
Vladivostok then sea to China).
Resources and Reserves
JORC Reserves are 7.2 Moz at 7.8 g/t average
grade and JORC Resources 3.1 Moz at 6.8 g/t
average grade.
The current plan envisages 14 years plus of
open-pit mining to beyond 2025 and over 25
years of underground mining to beyond 2039.
Exploration in 2018 at Bolshevik (7 km from the
plant and not yet being mined) saw an initial
Mineral Resource estimate of 704,000 oz of gold
with an average grade of 3.4 g/t. Exploration at
the main Bakyrchik deposit has focussed on the
Promezhutochniy and Glubokiy ore zones with 41
drill holes totalling 7.3 km drilled in 2018 alone
which increased mineral resources according to
Production and markets
The overall plant nameplate design capacity as
stated is 1.8 Mt/y supplied by the open pit having
a maximum mining rate of 63 Mt/y. The average
LOM stripping ratio is 25:1 but it can be up to 30:1.
Waste mining is peaking at 58.3 Mt in 2019 then
58.2 Mt in 2020 before dropping off to 45.2 Mt in
2021 to only 2.3 Mt by 2025 when underground
mine development will start. The decision to
produce a majority of refractory concentrate from
the POX plant was made due to Polymetal already
having a trading route from other operations like
Mayskoye to buyers in China for this material and
an existing POX plant in Amursk.
Gold concentrate is bagged in 1 t bulk bags
and trucked to the rail spur some 6 km away;
with all the main mining consumables like diesel,
explosives, tyres, etc also brought in by rail. The
bag loading of trucks and railcars is carried out
by specially designed Sennebogen handling
machines.
Overall gold production is expected to be
10 International Mining | NOVEMBER 2019
Outotec SAG and ball mill in Kyzyl plant
The company states: “POX-2 is expected to
generate significant economic benefits as all
refractory concentrates will be retained for in-
house processing as opposed to selling to third-
party off-takers. The project will result in the
incremental production of approximately 30,000-
35,000 oz per year from the same amount of
$100-150/oz for 500,00 oz of gold production.”
Hatch is responsible for the basic engineering,
detailed engineering, POX procurement support
and the supply of custom-made equipment for
the high pressure and acidic processing areas.
Polymetal Engineering is conducting all other
works.
POX-2 will ensure strategic security of
downstream processing against the backdrop of
tightening environmental regulations in China. It
will also allow Polymetal to create capacity for
treatment of third-party refractory concentrates,
a market which has grown considerably in Russia
and globally in recent years. IM