Kumtor Gold Company is building big plans for gold mining and smelting, improving and automating production, as well as reducing environmental damage for 2022. The company’s management organized a press tour for journalists to show how the mine and gold recovery plant are working to date and what is planned to be done in the future.
Central pit
The first place of importance, without which the operation of the mine would be impossible, is the central open pit of the Kumtor mine. The work of people and equipment there does not stop for a minute.
«The productivity of the central pit to date is 571,000 tons of gold ore per day. Thus, the daily tonnage for operation of the plant is fully ensured,» Almaz Chomokeev, manager of the Mining Department, said.
In total, 14 heavy excavators, 117 dump trucks, 12 graders, 11 caterpillar and 6 wheeled bulldozers, 2 loaders work at the mine. According to experts, there are no problems with supply of special equipment.
Repair and technical workshop
The second point of the press tour was a workshop for repair of the special equipment. It should be noted that it is the largest not only at the mine, but throughout Central Asia. At least 14 heavy dump trucks can be repaired at the same time in the workshop.
«After the introduction of external management, there were some problems with the supply of spare parts. But we did not stop the work and coped with the situation largely thanks to our reserves.
There are no problems with deliveries now.
«All the necessary spare parts come in full and on time,» Ermek Ilipov, chief shift foreman, told.
Gold recovery plant
This is the heart of Kumtor. It is one of its main production facilities. Grigory Borodey, head of the Production Department, met journalists at the control and dispatching desk. The entire plant is managed and controlled from there. Messages about any malfunctions and failures come to the remote control desk online.
According to the head of the department, there were no failures in the automated control system of the plant since the introduction of external management.
Last year, 468,136 ounces of gold have been produced there. It is planned to produce 555,000 this year.
According to the head of the Production Department, they plan to achieve the increase in productivity at Kumtor by replacing the plant’s equipment, a large part of which has not been seriously updated for the past 25 years.
Petrov Lake
The last point of the tour was the water intake of the plant, located near Petrov Lake. It takes both drinking and industrial water from there.
Changes have affected this object as well. From January 1, Kumtor Gold Company began paying for water use. Previously, they used it for free and took as much as they wanted. According to the initiators, water fees are not only additional contributions to the country’s budget, but also a kind of example of a more rational and prudent use of the resources.
It wasn’t easy, but we coped
The critical moment associated with the introduction of external management at Kumtor Gold Company has been passed. Kanat Kurmanov, Executive Director of the company, announced at the summing-up briefing of the press tour.
«On May 17, when external management was introduced, we encountered problems, first of all, financial ones. Centerra did everything to stop the operation of the mine. It blocked and withdrew all funds from the company’s accounts.
As of May 17, there were only $40,000 on the accounts.
We managed to cope on our own, without attracting investments and loans. We focused on the production and sale of products to Kyrgyzaltyn. We have started the optimization process,» he said.
According to Kanat Kurmanov, the year ended positively. The company exceeded the set plan.
Plans
In addition to the modernization of the gold recovery plant, Kumtor Gold Company currently creates its own personnel reserve of local specialists. The new management admits that the previous one was not particularly interested in this.
«We have also activated a paid internship program for students of local universities and young professionals. At least 91 people are interns who are currently working. We already hire some of them. The plans for this year are to recruit about 100 more interns so that we have our own permanent personnel reserve,» Kanat Kurmanov said.
The enterprise has big plans for the reclamation of the tailings. A separate project is being worked out, which will allow not only to reduce the harm to the environment, but also to benefit.
«To date, there are from 134 to 135 million tons of tailings with a gold content of about 100-110 tons at the mine. Its processing will ensure operation of the gold recovery plant for another 7-10 years. This is in addition to 10 years of development of the existing reserves in the field. The reclamation will not require a lot of money,» the executive director assured.
In the future, it is planned to store the production waste at the bottom of the pit or underground, if the mine is transferred to the underground mining method.
This issue is also being worked out today. First of all, the risks and safety of workers are taken into account.
The company’s management assured that a detailed report on the work of the mine would be given in the near future. External manager Tengiz Bolturuk plans to report to the government at the beginning of the year.
