PJSC Polyus announces that it has successfully completed the expansion of the Verninskoye mill’s throughput capacity. The project,which was launched in the fourth quarter of 2019, has been completed ahead of its initial schedule (the second half of 2021). The mill has now achieved its target hourly throughput rate of 450 t/h and is currently running at an annualised capacity of 3.5 Mt.

This upgrade is expected to provide an additional 40,000 oz of incremental gold volumes at Verninskoye. Capital expenditures for the project amounted to some $60 million, in line with the initial budget. Polyus has completed a number of initiatives to upgrade the crushing and grinding circuit at Verninskoye. This included the installation of an additional crushing circuit comprising of a ball mill and two vibrating screens in the extension of the main building. An additional cone crusher and screens were installed to reduce recirculation and increase the throughput capacity of the existing SAG mill.

The gravity concentration circuit was equipped with additional centrifugal concentrators and a hydrocyclone unit which were also installed in the main building extension. And as part of the project, Polyus implemented a number of initiatives aimed at improving recoveries, including the installation of an additional reactivation kiln in the main building extension, as well as installation of an additional centrifugal concentrator in the main building. This resulted in the recovery rate at Verninskoye reaching around 90% in February 2021.

Polyus is the world’s fourth-largest gold mining company by production volumes and the largest gold miner in terms of attributable gold ore reserves. The company says it demonstrates the lowest production costs among major global gold producers. Its principal operations are located in Siberia and the Russian Far East: Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk and Magadan regions and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).