Pokrovsky Mine OJSC is a large gold mining enterprise in the Far East. The first gold was mined in 1999. Ore processing factory was built in 2001. The mine is located in the Magdagachinsky district of the Amur Region, near the village of Tygda. From the regional center, the city of Blagoveshchensk, at a distance of about 600 kilometers.
Resource base
The Pokrovskoye deposit (mine) is located on the southern borders of the Mongolo-Okhotsk geological folding system. In these places, a wide mineralized zone, which is associated with the contact of tectonic plates. A deposit is a set of five large ore bodies located mainly horizontally. The mineralization of gold ore is localized in the veins of quartz, among granitoids and volcanic rocks formed in the Mesozoic geological era.
Gold mineralization reaches a depth of almost 240 meters. There are 2 main zones at Pokrovsky mine:
- Pokrovka-1, the main and main site for gold ore mining;
- Pokrovka-3, located at a distance of about 400 meters from the first zone.
The main mine deposit is Pokrovka-1. These are four separate ore bodies, which are called Lake, New, Zeysky and Main.
The explored reserves of precious metals at the time they began mining amounted to 56 tons of gold and about 100 tons of silver.
Organization system, technological base, infrastructure
Pokrovsky mine is an integral part of the Petropavlovsk group of companies (Petropavlovsk PLC). The former name of the structure is Peter Hambro Mining, which was formed in 1994. It was founded by Russian citizen P. Maslovsky and British citizen P. Hambro.
Pokrovsky mine was the first Russian mining and metallurgical enterprise, created from scratch.
The mining and hydrometallurgical plant operating at the Pokrovsky deposit is a large and modern enterprise in Russia in the Far East. The cost of gold mined at this mine is among the lowest in the world. This is due to the fact that in the immediate vicinity there is a developed transport infrastructure and there is energy capacity in the form of a hydroelectric power station on the See river. And also due to the fact that the development of a native gold deposit is carried out in an open way.
Currently, the mine employs nearly 2,800 people (including on a rotational basis). Thanks to the efforts of the Petropavlovsk Group of Companies, a modern infrastructure has been created here, which is equipped with a power supply system, water supply, and access roads. A thermal power station, a shift workers' village was erected at the mine. It has its own modern geological laboratory, as well as an economic and administrative complex of buildings and structures.
The mine is located in the Amur Region, at a distance of 7 kilometers from the village of Tygda.
Official address: Amur Region, Tygda village, Magdagachinsky district, Sovetskaya street, 17.
Historical reference
The history of gold mining at the Pokrovsky mine begins in 1999. Then they got the first precious metal using the heap leaching method.
It was at this mine that such a method began to be used year-round, in very difficult climatic conditions. The unique technological solutions used here have been patented.
Gold is also mined through enrichment. For this purpose, a mining and hydrometallurgical plant was built at the mine.
Production
The modern hydrometallurgical plant was commissioned in 2002, and in the same year it began to “issue” the first gold. Its capacity by the fall of 2004 increased substantially, as a result of which almost one and a half million tons of ore per year began to be processed on it.
Work at the mine is carried out by a modern fleet of equipment and machines that are the property of Petropavlovsk Group of Companies. The fleet includes Caterpillar bulldozers, EKG-5 excavators, as well as BelAZ dump trucks with a carrying capacity of 45 tons.
Until recently, the company was able to consistently maintain the volume of gold mining. Gold-bearing ores were mined open-pit in two places, namely at the Pionersky and Molodezhny quarries. Recently, Pokrovsky Rudnik OJSC has begun to introduce new technologies. Since gold-bearing veins are practically depleted, the issue of extracting silver and gold from production waste generated over a long time is on the agenda.
A record for gold mining at the Pokrovsky mine in the Amur Region was recorded in 2009. Then produced 199 600 troy ounces. In subsequent years, gold production was maintained at 135,000-145,000 ounces per year. However, since 2012, gold production has been gradually declining due to the depletion of gold-bearing veins.
Prospects
Currently, the Petropavlovsk group of companies is carrying out geological exploration and exploration around the perimeter of the Pokrovskoye field. The results obtained suggest that the life of the mine will continue.
In the entire history of the Pokrovsky mine, it has produced nearly 1,850,000 ounces of gold. Now it is in the stage of final depletion of the main Pokrovka-1 field. As a result of this, including for the continuation of the use of the created material base and infrastructure, the plan began to be implemented: the mine will be transformed into an enterprise where refractory ores will be processed using new advanced methods.
At the same time, the Petropavlovsk group of companies aims at turning Pokrovsky Mine OJSC into a gold mining center. It implements modern flotation and autoclave technologies for the extraction of gold, which will make it possible to obtain precious metal that cannot be mined through traditional treatments.
The beginning of change
Currently, work is underway at the Pokrovsky mine to launch this hub. To this end, extensive research is being conducted at a factory in the city of Blagoveshchensk (test structure). They study samples and train personnel in the interests of future changes.
It is assumed that after the launch of the Pokrovsky AGK, it will turn into the most powerful and technologically advanced autoclave complex for gold mining in the Russian Federation, adapted for working with various ores that have various characteristics.
For this purpose, Pokrovsky AGK LLC (Pokrovsky Autoclave-Hydrometallurgical Plant) was established in 2016.