OREANDA-NEWS.  January 30, 2008.The public hearings on the project to develop seven deposits of Elkon uranium ore district that took place in Tommot, Aldan district, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) on Dec 12 2007 aroused high public interest: 168 people took part in them.

The residents of Tommot had been informed about the hearings and the project by local Aldansky Rabochiy newspaper.

During the hearings, representatives of Atomredmetzoloto OJSC told the people about their plans to develop the Elkon deposits, the stages of the project, ecological studies and the work to control the ecological situation in the area.

The advisor of the director general of Atomredmetzoloto Valery Golovin said that the deposits would be developed by Elkon Mining Group, a newly-established closed joint stock company registered in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

The representative of the general designer, VNIPIpromtekhnologii FSUE, Vladimir Karamushka reported on the activities of the future facilities and the work to organize field monitoring and ecological survey of the site.

The representative of VNIIHT FSUE Rudolf Kuzin told the people about the peculiarities of the uranium ore processing technology to be applied under the project (the technology allows extracting not only uranium but also gold, silver and molybdenum) and about the analysis of the background content of heavy metals and radio-nuclides in the area prospected by Prilenskaya geological expedition.  

After the reports the residents of Tommot asked questions concerning the following problems:

— the lack of information about the activities of the future company;

— the plans of the republican and local authorities to solve the infrastructure and communal problems of Tommot at the expense of Elkon Mining Group;

— the demands of the former employees of Prilenskaya geological expedition, who prospected the deposits in the 1970s, to improve their housing conditions.

The managers of local companies wanted to know if Atomredmetzoloto might need their services under the project.

As a result, the public approved the plans of Atomredmetzoloto and Techsnabexport to develop the Elkon uranium deposits.