OREANDA-NEWS. January 25, 2016. In 2015, RUSBURMASH JSC (a part of the mining arm of Rosatom - ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. / Atomredmetzoloto JSC) managed to significantly increase its external and internal order book: the total drilling volume amounted to more than 610,000 line meters. This happened despite the stagnation in metal prices and the overall decline in exploration and drilling activities. The drilling volume at Khiagda amounted to 49,212 line meters, at Dalur - more than 116,000 line meters, at PIMCU – 414,187 line meters.

Drilling and exploration contracts were concluded with major mining companies, including ALROSA and SUEK. In particular, RUSBURMASH commenced new type of works in the project implemented for SUEK-Kuzbass – drilling of degassing and gas drainage holes. RUSBURMASH drilled more than 30 000 line meters at the sites in Kemerovo Oblast.

One of the most important results of the last year was the completion of exploration activities on Novaya Zemlya as a part of Pavlovskoye lead-zinc deposit development project. The contribution of RUSBURMASH exports allowed to double the mineral resource base on the archipelago. The company completed work under government gold prospecting contract in Amur Oblast, estimated and approved copper reserves by order of Tominsky Mining and Processing Plant.

The main objective of RUSBURMASH in 2016 remains to maintain its geological competences and strengthen its position in the international market.

One of the priorities of RUSBURMASH for 2016 is to increase productivity and reduce the cost of drilling. For these purposes, the company has been successfully implementing efficiency improvement program since 2013. The estimated economic impact of cost optimization measures in 2015 will exceed 164 million rubles.

In 2016, RUSBURMASH also plans to pay more attention to the development of work practices. The company's experts have developed new process solutions for the construction of wells used for in-situ leaching (ISL). New technologies will improve reliability and reduced well construction time. In particular, it is expected that in 2016 the company will introduce the method for direct determination of uranium content in-situ at Khokhlovskoye deposit (Dalur). This became possible due to the innovative equipment AMK KND-M, manufactured according to RUSBURMASH specifications; its expected economic effect will be about 65 million rubles.

The work plan for 2016 include implementation of Pravoberezhny project in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), where RUSBURMASH has been carrying out exploration drilling since 2015 for the Russia's largest diamond miner - ALROSA.