Russian miner Polyus has completed the $60-million expansion of the Verninskoye mill, allowing for an additional 40 000 oz of incremental gold volumes at the mine.
The upgrade has achieved target hourly throughput rate of 450 t/h and it is currently running at an annualised capacity of 3.5-million tonnes, the company said on Tuesday.
The project, launched in the fourth quarter of 2019, was completed ahead of its initial schedule and in line with its initial budget, Polyus said in a statement.
The miner 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 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 semiautonomous and grinding mill. The gravity concentration circuit was equipped with additional centrifugal concentrators and a hydrocyclone unit, which were also installed in the main building extension.
As part of the project, Polyus implemented several 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 about 90% in February.