Mines from Polyus Gold in Russia can now run simpler, smarter, and safer thanks to their suites of Wenco mining technology. Polyus Gold recently awarded Wenco contracts to supply the automated mine management systems for two of the largest gold mines on Earth — Natalka and Verninskoye. These sales get two more Polyus sites running with Wenco, which the company says has quickly become the standard system of the main gold producer in Russia.
Holding the third-largest gold reserves in the world, Natalka mine lies in the Magadan region of Eastern Russia. After development finishes, it will stand as the largest gold mine in the country. Although its deposit is enormous, its relatively low grade of ore requires careful mining to minimise dilution and loss as much as possible.
“The mine is planning to use a wide range of Wenco technology to meets its goals. Our Drill Navigation system will ensure more precise drilling at the mine, while our BenchManager machine guidance systems will keep the site’s loaders digging to plan. Natalka will also rely on the Wencomine fleet management system’s dispatching software to coordinate equipment across its three separate mining zones and several stockpiles.”
Meanwhile, Verninskoye sits in the historically gold-rich region of Bodaybo. With a different composition of ore, Verninskoye has different challenges and requirements than Natalka. Recently, it introduced a plan for “Total Production Optimisation” to improve equipment availability, hourly productivity, repair times, and extraction of gold. Yet, it can use the same Wenco systems as Natalka to do it. Verninskoye will run Wencomine FMS and add-ons such as BenchManager and Dynamic Dispatch to get its operation optimised, then stay that way.
Both mines have also purchased more Wenco applications to help them stay on top of other mining challenges, such as tyres, fuel, tie-down time, maintenance, and safety. “Our TireMax, Fuel Dispatch, Activity Dispatch, Maintenance Monitor, PitNav and Fleet Awareness systems will work at both Natalka and Verninskoye to keep their operations running smoothly, without any fuss. Implementation at both sites is scheduled for later this year.”
“We’re so proud to strengthen our relationship with Polyus,” said Glen Trainor, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Wenco. “These new sales really show that mines around the world are responding to the ease-of-use and the versatility of our systems. Any mine can just pick up and run with a Wenco system to get the exact performance gains they’re looking for.”