ALROSA’s Zapolyarny open-pit mine at the Verkhne-Munskoe kimberlite field in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has begun operations for ore extraction. The first lot of ore was delivered to the stockpile of the processing plant No. 12 at the Udachny Mining and Processing Division. “There are plans to remove a total of 75,000 tons of ore from the new deposit before the end of the year,” ALROSA said.

The Company plans to begin commercial operations at the new mine in 2018. Prior to this, the ore will be examined by experts to determine its diamond content and in order to “develop the processing technology”. 

Also, on October 2, the Scania road train did an initial test run to confirm that the equipment and the road were in preparedness for the ore removal.

“Since October 4, four road trains have started regular trips: one Scania road train and three Volvo road trains, all with the load capacity of 95 tons,” ALROSA stated. “The road train covers the distance from the motor depot of Udachny Mining and Processing Division to Zapolyarny open-pit mine in 5-6 hours non-stop on the average, the return trip takes the same time.”

Presently, work is underway to finish and furnish the service lane from Udachny Mining and Processing Division to the deposit.  

“The development of Verkhne-Munskoe deposit is ALROSA’s largest investment project,” the Company revealed. So far, four kimberlite pipes have been explored: Zapolyarnaya, Deimos, Novinka, Komsomolskaya-Magnitnaya.

The deposit, which is located 170 kilometers from the Udachny Mining and Processing Division, has an  aggregate inventory of  64.8 million tons of ore with the average grade of 0.6 carat per ton, totaling 38.4 million carats. The deposit is expected to be operational until 2041.

“The commissioning of the enterprise is scheduled for 2018,” ALROSA said. “Once the design capacity is reached in 2019, the enterprise will produce 3 million tons of ore per year. The budget revenue for the entire period of mining is expected to reach RUB 187.5 billion. The project will create more than 700 new jobs in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).”