World's largest untapped gold deposit gets prefeasibility

Moscow (Nov 13)  Russian gold giant Polyus said today a prefeasibility for Sukhoi Log shows an annual production of 2.3 million ounces at a cash cost of $390 per ounces. Cost to develop the mine will be $3.3 billion.

Polyus said the mine at Sukhoi Log will be designed as a conventional load-and-haul open pit mine utilizing electric rope shovels with a nominal payload of 100 tonnes, combined with mining trucks with a nominal payload of 300 tonnes.

The final decision on mine design awaits feasibility stage, due in the second half of 2022.

First pour is estimated at 2027.

The ore will undergo primary crushing, SAG and ball milling, gravity concentration, and flotation. Gold from flotation concentrate will be recovered by CIL and electrowinning.

Polyus is the world’s fourth-largest gold mining company by production volumes and one of two gold miners with the largest attributable gold reserves.

In 2019 the company produced 2.98 million gold ounces.

Reuters