Istochnoye mining to start in 2016

Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Russian uranium mining company Khiagda aims to start mining the Istochnoye and Vershinnoye uranium deposits from 2016 and 2017, respectively.

The deposits are in Vitimsky in the Buryat Republic, located in the south-central region of Siberia along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal.

Khiagda director general Alexey Dementiev said on 19 August that mining will start at Istochnoye because it is closer to the main processing building and is also "one of the best" deposits in the Khiagdinskoye region in terms of uranium content.

The company is preparing to build access roads, power transmission lines and infrastructure facilities at the Istochnoye deposit, which has known uranium resources of 2055 tonnes. The Vershinnoye deposit has known uranium resources of 4577 tonnes.

The potential of the Vitimsky region is estimated at more than 300,000 tonnes of uranium, Khiagda said.

Khiagda is owned by Atomredmetzoloto, the uranium mining subsidiary of Rosatom.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News