OREANDA-NEWS. August 3, 2012. Uralkali (LSE: URKA) has started boring holes for the freezing of soil around the future Shaft 1 of the Ust-Yayvinsky mine.

The project includes drilling 50 freezing and temperature-measuring holes, each 245 metres deep, and is expected to be completed at Shaft 1 by March 2013. Alongside boring, the Company is installing freezing tubes in each hole which will be followed by construction of the freezing system and its connection to the freezing station.

At the same time, the Company is building perimeter foundations for the temporary administrative and housing building for the mine construction workers. The foundations for the equipment and freezing station are already complete.

To provide the construction site with electricity a substation is being constructed with a 110-kv high voltage ground power line and a 6-kv underground cable power line is already installed. Start-up work is already under way.

The boring of respective holes at Shaft 2 will start in February 2013. The freezing of soil will create an ice cylinder which will prevent ground water inflow during shaft sinking. The construction of the surface complex at the Ust-Yayvinsky block will begin in 2015. The Company plans to complete the construction of the shafts in 2017 and to produce its first ore in 2020.

About the project

In 2004, Uralkali won the tender for the development of the Ust-Yayvinsky block and obtained a mining licence. The reserves of the block comprise approximately 1.3 bln tonnes of sylvinite ore, which will provide 30-35 years of steady operation mine life. In December 2011, Uralkali concluded a contract with “Deilmann Haniel Schachtostroi” for shafts sinking for the Ust-Yayvinsky mine. The contract provides for the development of working documentation, construction of temporary facilities of the surface heading equipment, shafts sinking and infrastructure development. The mined ore will be processed at the Berezniki-3 plant, where it will be transported by a 6.3 km long cable-belt conveyer.