![Photo courtesy of newskaz.ru](/userdata/news_en/2014/news_254312/thumb_b/photo_41017.jpg)
Development of Aulie gold deposit has started in Yessil District of North Kazakhstan Oblast, Tengrinews reports citing Novosti-Kazakhstan.
Development of Aulie gold deposit has started in Yessil District of North Kazakhstan Oblast, Tengrinews reports citing Novosti-Kazakhstan.
Geologists discovered occurrences of gold at the area of 400 hectares near Bulak village. “It is no coincidence that the geologists started searching for gold in this particular area. It was known that there were precious metals in the area since the 1940s,” an Akimat (Municipal authorities) representative said.
According to preliminary estimates, the gold deposit amounts to 3 tons with the depth of formation ranging from 6 to 12 meters.
“Construction of the mining, smelting plant and associated infrastructure is starting this year. The plant is expected to reach the design production capacity in 2015. Its output will amount to 130 thousand tons of ore in 2014 and will be gradually increased to 600 thousand tons in 2018,” the Akimat informed.
Aulie Gold Mining LLP will be running the development and production operations at the gold mine. The company is a part of the Russian Mining Solutions.
The project's design lifetime is until 2021, but it may be prolonged later on, as additional exploration associated with mining will be made, and more gold deposits may be discovered.
The cost of the project is estimated $15 million. It will create 265 new jobs.
Besides, the fine-grained sand found in placers is now being studies to identify content of any valuable satellite resources. Geologists specifically recommended searching for titanium and zirconium components.
Writing by Gyuzel Kamalova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina