OREANDA-NEWS. At a total of over US$ 100 million, the integration of Korpanga is Karelsky Okatysh's largest investment project to date. Over the last four years, the company has invested some US$ 54 million in the new operations. This year the company will invest US$10 million with a further US$ 38 million expected to be invested before 2013, reported the press-centre of  Severstal. Up to 3 million tonnes of ore will be processed by the end of the year, with future annual capacity likely to increase to up to 10 million tonnes.


Victor Vasin, Director General, Karelsky Okatysh, said: "The start of ore extraction at Korpanga means that we are able to maintain, and even increase, our overall current rates of production at a time when the output from our existing mine at Kostomuksha is actually in decline. This year's mining of 28 million tonnes of ore will require the evacuation of 40 million m3 and will allow us to increase the production and sales of pellets up to 10 million tonnes. All three figures are the highest in the company's history and would not be possible without the Korpanga deposit. In the long term we will increase the scale of our ore mining and the volume of pellet production".

The infrastructure required at the site of the deposit includes 20 kilometres of roads and railway lines which link the new deposit to the concentration plant to supply the plant with ore for the production of iron ore concentrate and iron ore pellets. Korpanga is located 5 kilometres north of the company's current core mineral base, Kostomuksha and features better ore in terms of recovery ratios. The Korpanga deposit was discovered in 1952 with geological exploration started in 1970 and a detailed survey completed in 1981. Following a competitive tender, Karelsky Okatysh was granted the right to develop Korpanga in July 2001 by the Natural Resources Ministry of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Karelian Republic. The license is valid for 20 years. An independent study by Branan, commissioned by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and consultation with scientists and environmentalists has concluded that the commissioning of the Korpanga deposit will have no impact on the environment.