UMMC Cuts Resources Base

26.10.2009 — News

THE CHELYABINSK OBLAST.

The Board of Directors of OJSC Sredneuralsky Copper Smelter (a part of the UMMC Holding) has made a decision to liquidate Sultanovsky Mine Ltd, one of the branches of the company. The necessary procedure should be concluded by the end of January 2010. 

According to the exploration data the estimated reserves of the Sultanovsky deposit located near the village of Kunashak, the Chelyabinsk Oblast, amount to 113.9 thousand tons of copper, 50.4 thousand tons of zinc, 9.421 tons of gold, and 104.4 tons of silver. The construction of the infrastructure for the site had started in 2007. Commissioning of the site had been planned for 2009. The Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company has not commented on the causes for the liquidation of the Sultanovsky deposit.

The Chelyabinsk Oblast government informed RusBusinessNews that the most likely cause of the mine closure is the considerable fall in the metals production related to the consequences of the global economic crisis and the postponement of the majority of investment projects in the mining sector. The Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant which currently is also controlled by UMMC has stopped the development of the Amur deposit in the South Urals.