Polyus Gold to invest $460 million into the Verninskoye and Blagodatnoye deposits

Polyus Gold Int has assessed its investments into the development of the gold deposits of Verninskoye and Blagodatnoye in 2016-2017 at up to $460 million, the presentation of the company reports. The development projects of these deposits will be a priority for Polyus after launch of Magadan’s Natalka, which is scheduled for summer of 2015 with capital investments in the amount of $1.7-1.9 billion in 2011-2015.

Particularly, the investments in the Verninskoye deposit (the Irkutsk region) could reach $240-260 million. The investments will be used to increase the capacity of processing plant from 2.2 million to 3.6 million tons of ore. The gold production is planned to be increased to 120 thousand ounces (3.7 tons) per year. In 2013, 89 thousand ounces (2768 kg) were mined from the Verninskoye deposit.