OREANDA-NEWS. December 18, 2012. On 14 December 2012, Priargunsky Industrial Mining and Chemical Union (JSC PIMCU), operated by ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. (JSC Atomredmetzoloto), commissioned the first-phase facilities of Mine No. 8 with a throughput capacity of 100,000 tons of ore per year. Sergey Kirienko, Director General of State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom and Ravil Geniatulin, Governor of Trans-Baikal Territory participated in the commissioning ceremony.

 The reserves of Mine No. 8 amount to 12,800 tons of uranium. Its full design capacity of 370,000 tons of ore is scheduled to be achieved in 2014. In 2013, Mine No. 8 is expected to produce more than 400 tons of uranium. Annual output will exceed 500 tons of uranium in the longer term. Investments in the construction of the first-phase facilities of Mine No. 8 amounted to RUB 3.49 bln. Overall investments in project implementation are projected to total RUB 4.8 bln.
 “Enterprise staff has done a tremendous job. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has contributed to this ambitious project. This is a major success. Mine No. 8 will ensure profitable and effective enterprise operation through 2020,” noted Sergey Kirienko, Director General of State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, as he commissioned the new facilities. “PIMCU employees and the residents of Trans-Baikal Territory have made yet another contribution to the strengthening of our national economic power. Today, we have expanded uranium production in Russia by 5%, clearly demonstrating the ongoing development of the national atomic-energy industry and our leadership in this particular segment,” remarked Ravil Geniatulin during the ceremony.
 Project implementation involved the application of numerous innovative engineering solutions aimed at enhancing the project’s economic efficiency and labour productivity. For example, new stope preparation technology has been put in place. It provides an increase in the number of focused face teams, i.e. a driller, a loading-machine operator, and a timberman. High-performance machinery from leading world manufacturers will be used to carry out sloping and drifting operations.
 The Mine No. 8 project represents an important milestone under the JSC PIMCU Mid-Term Development Programme approved in 2012. It covers the period up to 2020, and envisages an increase in uranium production despite lower ore grades, which is to be achieved through outperforming growth in mined-rock extraction volumes.