Construction of Khiagda Central Production Site Facilities Completed

This fact was reported to Aleksey Tsydenov, the Head of the Republic of Buryatia, during a working meeting by Victor Svyatetskiy, the First Deputy Director General of ARMZ Uranium Holding Co.: «Today, we will go from Ulan-Ude to the Bauntovsky-Evenki District, where we will cut the symbolic red ribbon. The facilities that are ready for commissioning include the administration and on-site building, the repair and warehousing facilities building, and the 110/10 kW Dzhilinda substation. Therefore, we can speak about completing the construction of a state-of-the-art uranium-mining enterprise in a hard natural and climatic permafrost environment.»

The first facilities of the Central Production Site of Khiagda, JSC — a shift camp, the main production building, chemicals and finished products warehouses, a transformer substation, a compression station, a fire station — have been put into commercial operation in May 2015. Then, the 2nd construction phase facilities have been commissioned: a power complex, intrasite water supply utilities, a site for preparation and storage of sodium nitrite. The sulfuric acid production workshop and the backup power supply complex have been launched in July 2016. Alexander Burutin, the Deputy Director General of ARMZ Uranium Holding Co.: «Then, in order to constantly increase the finished products output, the main construction works were performed immediately on deposits. We commissioned local sorption plants, built roads and power lines, and other infrastructural facilities. At the end of 2019, we plan to provide for more than 30% of the strategic metal production for the needs of the nuclear sector.»

Currently, Khiagda, JSC is engaged in developing the Khiagda and Istochny deposits of the Khiagda allotment; the construction and mining & development works are near completion at the Vershinny deposit. The start of mining & development works on the Kolichikan deposit is scheduled in 2020, on the Dybryn deposit, in 2022. Then, the Company will start a progressive development of the Namaru and Koretkonda deposits. By the way, Aleksey Tsydenov visited the production site of the uranium mining enterprise, attended the ceremony of launching the sulfuric acid workshop, and starting the development of the Vershinny deposit.

A special topic of discussion was the social and economic development of the Bauntovsky-Evenki District. In December 2012, the Government of the Republic of Buryatia and ROSATOM State Atomic Energy Corporation signed a cooperation agreement under which Khiagda, JSC joined the Rosatom’s Consolidated Group of Taxpayers (CGT), thus allowing to increase contributions to the republican budget. Most of these funds are earmarked to solving infrastructural issues of the Bauntovsky district, and the most important project was the construction a bridge across the Vitim river in the Romanovka village. The working meeting discussed, among other things, the issues of motor roads reconstruction in the Bauntovsky district.

In addition, Khiagda, JSC and the Bauntovsky-Evenki District sign every year and implement the Social and Economic Cooperation Agreement. The funds were allocated, among other things, to the implementation of socially significant projects such as the overhaul of the Vitim Cultural Center, purchasing furniture for the Vitimok kindergarten, purchasing a water truck for the needs of the population in the village of Maly-Amalat, purchasing an all-terrain vehicle to ensure the foodstuff supply to the Ust-Dzhilinda rural settlements, etc.

Aleksey Tsydenov stated that «constantly increasing the production to ensure the nuclear and energy independence of all our country instills in us a sense of pride. An enterprise designed to operate for more than 150 years is indeed a basis of the Republic’s economy. The main thing is that we can clearly see its unconditional adherence to the principle of environmental safety.» He added that «The authorities of Buryatia will make every effort to help development of Khiagda, JSC.»