GRK Bystrinskoye, Zabaykalsky Region

GRK Bystrinskoye (Bystrinsky GOK) is Nornickel’s 50.01%-owned subsidiary. Bystrinsky GOK is located in the Gazimuro-Zavodsky District, Zabaykalsky Region, 16 km east of Gazimursky Zavod village, 350 km away from Chita.

Nornickel’s new asset is the largest greenfield project in the Russian metals industry, integrating ore mining, concentration and shipment of end products to customers. The expected volume of ore mined and processed at Bystrinsky GOK is approximately 10 Mtpa.

Nornickel commenced the construction of Bystrinsky GOK in 2013. The construction project includes open-pit mining at the Bystrinskoye deposit, a mining and processing plant (MPP) along with all of the associated infrastructure, including a power line and a 227-km Borzya–Gazimursky Zavod railway line, and a rotation camp. In October 2017, Nornickel started the pre-commissioning activities, and in September 2019 Bystrinsky GOK was commissioned. The project is expected to ramp up to design capacity by 2021.

Mining

Bystrinsky GOK mines gold-iron-copper ores of the Bystrinskoye deposit.

Concentration

Concentration facilities

• Concentrator

The concentrator construction commenced in 2015; the facility’s purpose is to process ores of the Bystrinskoye deposit into copper, iron ore, and gold concentrates. The key processing stages include crushing, milling, flotation, thickening, filtrationFiltration — the process of reducing the moisture level of the pulp by forcing it through a porous medium. and end product packaging. The concentrator has two processing lines. In 2018, Bystrinsky GOK started pre-commissioning of the processing lines, and in 2019 the concentrator was commissioned. In 2019, it processed 7.5 mln t of ore (2018: 3.8 mln t). The increase was due to scheduled ramp-up to design capacity.

Copper and iron ore concentrates are sold via third parties, while gold concentrates are further processed at the Polar Division.

Products:

• Copper concentrate
• Gold concentrate
• Iron ore concentrate.