Location and History
Buryatzoloto comprises the underground gold mines of Irokinda and Zun-Holba in the Republic of Buryatia in the Russian Federation.
Irokinda is located in the Buryatia Republic, approximately 75 km from the town of Taksimo, where the Baikal- Amur railway station and airport are located. The mine is accessible from an all-season road. Production began in 1985.
Zun-Holba is also located in the Buryatia Republic, approximately 315 km from the village of Kultuk, which is on the Trans-Siberian railway, and 400 km from the city of Irkutsk. It is also accessible by an all-season road. Production began in 1986.
These assets were acquired by Nordgold in late 2008 as part of the controlling interest in High River Gold. Nordgold holds a 90.6% voting interest in Buryatzoloto.
In 2016, Buryatzoloto produced 97.7 thousand ounces of gold.
Gold production (koz)
| 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75.9* | 97.7 | 112.7 | 119.7 | 98.5 | 108.9 | 134.3 | 136.1 |
- *due to lower grades from Irokinda mine following the completion of high grade Visokya and Veins 3 underground mines, and due to processing water supply issues experienced in Q1 2017.
Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves Summary (31 December 2017)
| Category | Ore (Kt) | Grade (g/t) | Au (Koz) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZUN-HOLBA RESOURCES | |||
| Measured and Indicated | 764 | 6.08 | 149 |
| Inferred | 1,573 | 9.64 | 487 |
| Total (M+I+I) | 2,337 | 8.47 | 637 |
| ZUN-HOLBA RESERVES | |||
| Proven and Probable | 1,513 | 5.78 | 281 |
| IROKINDA RESOURCES | |||
| Measured and Indicated | 999 | 6.93 | 223 |
| Inferred | 581 | 8.45 | 158 |
| Total (M+I+I) | 1,580 | 7.49 | 380 |
| IROKINDA RESERVES | |||
| Proven and Probable | 1,321 | 4.63 | 197 |
For more information, please see Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves Press Release
Technology
The Irokinda and Zun-Holba mines are both relatively mature underground operations. Both contain a processing plants, each with crushing, grinding, gravity and flotation circuits. The Zun-Holba plant also contains a CIL circuit and related facilities. For processing, there are two crushing stages and two grinding stages using ball mills, followed by gravity separation, which produces concentrates for both the gravity and flotation circuits. The gravity circuit is used to recover free gold, after which smelting produces doré bars. Flotation is used to recover finer gold particles into a flotation concentrate. At the end of 2014, Buryatzoloto employed approximately 3,000 people.
Buryatzoloto
Milling and Classification
Gravity Circuit
FLOTATION
CYANIDE LEACHING AND SORPTION
Elution
Electrowinning
Smelting
2017 Deliveries
- Continue implementation of the underground Safety Turnaround programmes at both the Buryatzoloto mines of Irokinda and Zun-Holba.
- At Zun-Holba conversion from hand-held mining to mechanised mining to increase safety performance and efficiency will continue throughout 2017.
- The first production drill required for ore production in the Zun-Holba 2 Decline, is expected for delivery in the Q2 2017.
- Ore mining at the Granitsoe deposit (Zun-Holba) is expected to commence in 2017.
- Zun-holba will commence an exploration at Severnoe 5 mineralisation between Adit 12 & Adit 16.
- Irokinda will be focused on new mines development to match increased plant capacity with high- grade ore supplied from new mines from 2018 and onwards.
- The procurement of items with long lead times for the Irokinda plant expansion project is expected to commence in the last quarter of 2017.
- Irokinda will continue the exploration programme at the Vein #3, Petrovskaya, Visokaya-Poperechnaya, and Serebryakovskaya zones.
- The work at the Zhanok exploration project will continue throughout the year. Sampling and trenching during 2016 produced high grade surface results paving the way for an intensive drilling during 2017 in an attempt to discover further deposits near existing infrastructure.