Russian mining group, GeoProMining, has completed the technical upgrade of the Zod gold mine in Armenia. This upgrade will provide for expanded exploration of the Zod field, ahead of innovative Albion technology will be launched at the Ararat gold extraction plant. In 2011-2012 the company also purchased more than 30 units of mining equipment, and built a modernised fuel and lubricants storage facility and machine maintenance premises.

The budget of the project exceeds $45 million.The new gold extraction line with Albion technology at the Ararat plant will help to significantly increase gold extraction from sulphide-bearing ores from the Zod mine. The Albion project consists of several parts: construction of the new processing line with the advanced technology, efficiency improvement of the mining operation at the Zod field; and upgrade of the mining fleet with new equipment. The newly bought equipment includes excavators, haul trucks, dozers, graders and maintenance trucks, the majority of which has been purchased from Caterpillar and Komatsu.

“We are pleased to complete an important step in GPM’s key innovative project. This project is unique for the mining industry of Armenia in terms of scale as its total budget will exceed $100 million. The next stage is to complete the construction of the new processing facility in Ararat and launch the advanced Albion technology. This will multiply production volumes, reduce environmental burden and improve the overall efficiency of the plant. This project when implemented will also create new jobs, more income tax and encourage the development of small adjacent businesses,” said Vladimir Kozlov, General Director of GPM Gold.