Polymetal intends to move the construction of the Pacific Hydrometallurgical plant from Sovetskaya Gavan in the Khabarovsk Territory of Russia to Kazakhstan, the head of the company Vitaly Nesis told Interfax.
The capital costs of the project after the site transfer are estimated at $700-800 million.
In 2021, the company's board of directors approved an initial investment of $70 million for the Pacific Hydrometallurgical plant construction project, which included designing, ordering equipment and preparation of the construction site.
According to Nesis, $10-15 million of the total amount was spent. In addition, the company ordered an autoclave for the launch of the Hydrometallurgical plant from a Belgian company that produced equipment for the Amur Hydrometallurgical Plant that belongs to the company. In 2024, the Board of Directors plans to approve the budget of the actual investment phase.
If the budget is adopted, as Nesis said, the autoclave will arrive at the new site in the summer of 2025. The launch is scheduled for mid-2028. The capacity of the Pacific MMC will be 250,000 – 300,000 tons of gold concentrate per year, depending on the sulfur content.
The loading of the plant will be provided by the Kyzyl deposit (60% owned by Polymetal) and third-party concentrates from Central Asia and Western China.
Polymetal International plc (combines the assets of Polymetal JSC) specializes in gold and silver mining. The company's enterprises operate in Russia and Kazakhstan. The annual production of Polymetal in 2022 amounted to 1.71 million ounces in gold equivalent, which is 2% more than in 2021.
Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished
