Name: Kyzyl mine.

Location: The Kyzyl mine is located in north-eastern Kazakhstan.

Mine Owner/s: Polymetal International.

Brief Description: The high-grade Kyzyl mine, with an estimated life-of-mine until 2039, comprises the Bakyrchik and Bolshevik gold deposits and a state-of-the-art processing plant.

Brief History: The Kyzyl mine was acquired by Polymetal in 2014.

In 2015, the company announced the successful completion of the feasibility study for the gold project and the updated ore reserve and mineral resource estimates. Later that year, the Polymetal decided to proceed with the Kyzyl construction and development.

Polymetal achieved the start-up of the concentrator in 2018, reaching nameplate capacity of 150 000 t a month and recoveries of 86% in the third quarter of that year.

Primary Metals: Gold.

Secondary Metals: Not stated.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Kyzyl gold deposits are hosted in the Kyzyl shear zone (KSZ), which is an 11.5-km-long zone that dips 30˚ to 40˚ north and ranges in width from 10 m to 240 m. The KSZ has been traced to depths of 1.5 km in the west and 3.5 km in the east and is suggested to terminate at the granite basement. Granite basement rocks underlie the sedimentary rocks at depths of 1 km to 4 km.

The Bakyrchik deposit structure and geotechnical characteristics are determined by the large near east-west fault (the KSZ), with different folding on either side of the structure. The gold sulphide mineralisation, identified within the KSZ, is characterised by irregular shape and variable thickness, and occurs in mud shale, siltstone, various-grained sandstone, interstratified rocks and diorite-porphyry. The hanging wall rocks are represented mainly by siltstone and sandstone; the footwall rocks consist of foliated carbonaceous-argillaceous shale.

The deposits are shear zone-hosted epigenetic deposits in which the gold is fine grained and associated with arsenopyrite and, to a lesser extent, pyrite. Gold is intimately associated with the sulphides. Sulphide distribution is related to host-rock permeability, and coarse-grained sandstone contains greater concentrations of sulphide mineralisation and gold. The host rock averages 3% total carbon, of which about 50% is organic.

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at January 1, 2019, were estimated at 28.7-million tonnes grading 7.8 g/t gold.

Resources: Total mineral resources as at January 1, 2019, were estimated at 14.4-million tonnes grading 6.8 g/t gold.

Mining Method: Kyzyl will be mined using conventional drill-and-blast, truck-and-shovel openpit mining methods for the first ten years of operation. This will be followed by an underground mine using mechanised underhand cut-and-fill methods, with cemented tailings paste backfill.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Kyzyl ore will be processed using conventional flotation at the 1.8-million-tonne-a-year on-site circuit. The circuit comprises single-stage crushing followed by grinding (in a semiautogenous grinding mill and one ball mill) and three-stage conventional flotation.

Prospects: The processing plant is running above its nameplate capacity of 1.8-million tonnes a year. Performance tests have demonstrated that further improvement in throughput can be achieved with a $3-million investment in hydrocyclones and concentrate filtering area.

Contact Details:
Polymetals International
Tel +357.25.558090
Email ir@polymetalinternational.com
Website https://www.polymetalinternational.com