Exploration at remote gold mine in Russia is back

Seven decades after being mined for the first time, the Kupol mine in Far East Russia is back on gold production. But, contrary to the first time, when the workers in fact were Gulag prisioners of the murder Communist regime, now the game is played by a joint venture which employs 1,400 workers and tries to mine the most gold they can from the US$ 700 million-deposit. It lies in the Chukotka region, a place revived in the last eight years by the US$ 2.5 billion investment of flamboyant billionaire Roman Abramovich and produced a fifth of Russia's gold in the first half of this year.

The mine is the largest tax payer in Chukotka and took five years to be built, obviously, under extreme conditions: the only way for heavy machinery reach the are is via an ice road laid across 400 km of tundra, formed every winter. The Kupol mine is owned by Canada's Kinross Gold Corp (75%) and the Chukotka Okrug government (25%). Despite the difficulties, the owning company is optimistic about the performance of the mine: it will supply about a third of Kinross' total output this year.

And the good news from Kupol attracted more attention to Chukotka, and there should be more to come. Polyus Gold, owned by billionaires Mikhail Prokhorov and Suleiman Kerimov, plans to launch Natalka, the world's third-largest gold deposit, in 2013, producing about 30 tonnes of gold a year. "Chukotka is definitely a key gold-producing region, particularly in the long term," said Vitaly Nesis, CEO of Polymetal, which also has plans for the region – the company plans to launch the Mayskoye gold deposit in Chukotka by 2011.


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