Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
Issue link: https://emj.epubxp.com/i/136091
RUSSIAN GOLD A blast at Polyus Gold's Olimpiadnenskay mine in Krasnoyarsk Krai. company purchased the Omchak deposit in Trans-Baikal Krai, and will soon begin construction of a mine there. The Expansion of Foreign Companies In recent years, foreign companies have been steadily increasing their shares in the Russian gold mining industry. However, out of the 30 foreign companies that have been interested in gold mining in Russia at various times, there are only 14 left. Eight of them are the owners of existing mining projects (or included in joint ventures). They include: Peter Nambro Mining, Angara Mining, Highland Gold Mining, High River Gold, Kinross Gold, Central Asia Gold, and divisions of transnational corporations, such as Leviev Group, Sun Group and Lundin Group. It is estimated that as many as nine additional companies are considering investments that would involve them in the Russian market. Another six companies, including TransSiberian Gold (U.K.), Kola Mining (Canada), Sun Mining & Exploration Ltd. (India, Sun Group), Zoloto Resources (Canada), Fortress Minerals Corp. (Canada/ Lundin Group) and Ovoca Gold (Ireland) are currently carrying out exploration with varying degrees of intensity with the possibility of further investments. In total, foreign companies currently account for 70 ore deposits, ore occurrences and areas, and up to 30 placer deposits in Russia. This is about 1,000 mt of resources or about 30% out of the capacity of all gold-mining objects in the stages of design, preparation and exploration in the country, and at least 1750 mt of expected resources. And with further investments by foreign companies, this figure is about to rise. A freelance journalist based in Moscow, Vladislav Vorotnikov contributes regularly to Engineering & Mining Journal and other industrial and agricultural trade journals. He can be reached at: vorotnikov.vlsl@gmail.com. www.e-mj.com JUNE 2013 • E&MJ; 73