PIMCU JSC, established in 1968, is the biggest uranium mining enterprise of the country. It is situated in Zabaykalie. The mining is going on at four diggings: mine №1, №2, “Gluboky” and “The 6P mine”. In 2011 the scope of uranium production was 2101 tons.

The combine development is one of the priorities of Rosatom and its subsidiary Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ) – the PIMCU management company. On December 14 phase 1 facilities of mine №8 were put into operation, which had been a long-expected event.

Reference

Uranium Holding ARMZ (Atomredmetzoloto), a Rosatom enterprise, today is the successor of the major uranium mining of the Soviet Union. In 2008, as a result of nuclear industry restructuring done by ARMZ, all the uranium mining enterprises of Russia along with JVs of the CIS and non-CIS states were consolidated. In 2012 ARMZ became the owner of 51.4% of the Uranium One Inc stock. While in 2011 ARMZ bought 100% of the Mantra Resources Limited stock.

The mine №8 project is an important part of the PIMCU mid-term development program, approved in 2012. The program has been designed until 2020 and envisages an increase in uranium production through pre-emptive build-up of the mined rock volumes in spite of decreasing material assay.

The capacity of the new mine is 100,000 tons a year. The resources are 12,800 tons of uranium. By 2013 it is planned to have more than 400 tons of uranium produced at mine №8. The design capacity, which is 370,000 tons of ore, is planned to be achieved in 2014. Further the annual volume of production will exceed 500,000 tons of uranium. RUB 3.49 billion has been invested in construction. The total amount of investments in the project realization will be RUB 4.8 billion. “Our staff did an excellent job. This is the most important achievement. mine №8 shows us the breakeven profitable work of the enterprise up to 2020” – said Sergey Kiriyenko, the Director General of the State Atomic Corporation, at the opening ceremony of the new facilities. 

New Ways
A number of new engineering solutions were applied during the Project implementation. Those solutions are meant to increase the project economic and labor efficiency. Thus, a new technology of stope preparation is being used here. It allows a bigger number of stope teams with one function workers, such as boring specialists, loading machine operators, timbermen. High-capacity machinery made by leading foreign companies will be used for drivage and stopage operations.