OREANDA-NEWS. June 22, 2015. The members of the official delegation were greeted by Alexei Dementiev, director general of JSC Khiagda and representatives of the mining arm of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation. The head of the Republic of Buryatia saw the entire uranium production chain - from drilling wells on the deposits planned for acidification to processing of pregnant solutions and production of finished products, uranium compounds suspension (yellow cake).

"I was here a long time ago, when the construction was just beginning. The scale of the enterprise is naturally impressive. A steady increase in production supporting nuclear and energy independence of our country inspires a sense of pride. The main thing is that the unconditional observance of the principle of ecological safety is clearly evident," - said Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn.

The facilities of the 1st phase of construction of the Central Production Site were officially put into commercial operation a month ago. Thus, Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn saw utilization of the new equipment in the main production building. Pregnant solutions processing volume increases and will increase almost daily, according to the technological concept. "Commissioning of the entire complex means gradual growth in metal production volumes. Currently deposits of Khiagda field are being developed. From 2015 to 2018, we will gradually put into operation deposits of Istochnoye and Vershinnoye fields. If in 2014 JSC Khiagda produced 442 tons of uranium, in 2015 the finished product output will reach 508 tons. By 2018, hopefully we will be able to fully load the new equipment and annually produce 1,000 tons of metal which is needed by our country. But this is not the limit. Our calculations show that the output can be increased to 1,300 tons per year," - said Alexei Dementiev.

Head of the Republic of Buryatia also saw the progress on the construction and installation of acid plant equipment with a design capacity of up to 110 thousand tons per year. It is planned to be put into operation in September 2015. "I will certainly attend the startup of this important facility. I understand that this event will be the culmination of titanic long-term efforts to create a state-of-the-art enterprise in our severe natural and climatic conditions," - promised Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn.

The development of uranium deposits of Vitimsky uranium ore district (UOD) Buryatia is just beginning. Chief geologist of JSC Khiagda Andrey Gladyshev said that, according to Federal State Unitary Enterprise Urangeo, which has been carrying out prospecting at the expense of the federal budget, as of today the total resource potential of Vitimsky UOD is estimated at 409 thousand tons (including production from Khiagdinskoye field). At the same time, we can say with high probability that this estimate is not complete, since exploration, which has been conducted by Urangeo since 2004, will continue.

"Our rich mineral resources are the foundation of the prosperous future of the Republic and the country. We will use our best efforts to make the work of ROSATOM in Buryatia the most comfortable, in particular, in terms of the required infrastructure development of Bauntovsky Evenki District," - said Head of the Republic of Buryatia.

Infrastructure development issues were discussed at the workshop held at the conference hall of JSC Khiagda shift camp, including the construction of HV lines to create ring power supply circuit, installation of fiber-optic communication lines, improvement of the road network. The arrangement for the transfer of Vitim River Bridge in Romanovka village, built at the expense of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, to the Republic of Buryatia was also discussed. Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn gave specific instructions to the heads of relevant committees and ministries of the Government of the Republic of Buryatia to address these issues.