OREANDA-NEWS. On 17 March 2009 was announced, that Bogatyr Access Komyr, LLP being part of the public holding SAMRUK-KAZYNA and the UC RUSAL has developed the next project for the improvement of the environmental situation in the region on the account of creating waste dumps inside the pits and putting the functioning external dumps out of operation. The implementation of this project is environmentally topical, technologically necessary, and economically high-efficient.

The placement of overburden rocks at external dumps together with big financial costs considerably deteriorates the environmental situation in the region. That is why when elaborating projects of future development of the mines the task of the maximum possible reduction of overburden transportation volumes into external dumps always remains a priority one.

So several years ago in the project of the Reconstruction of the front of the mining activities of Severny mine the formation of the internal dumps on temporarily moth-balled Sections 2 and 3 was envisaged. Today this dump has achieved the design parameters, there are three strata functioning, each of them 60 meters high. Its active development allowed dumping as much as 100 per cent of the overburden of the mine and put out of operation as much as four external dumps: Severny dump, which is the largest by its territory, located at the entrance to the city, and three others, which names are Zapadny, Youzhny and Ozyorny.

After the accomplishment of the range of works for their reclamation the areas of external dumps are returned to the municipal land fund. Earlier in the feasibility study of the Conversion to the trucks and conveyor technology with coal blending involved the analogous project was elaborated for Bogatyr mine as well. But the tempos of the implementation of that project are currently behind the schedule accepted in the feasibility study, and the technology of mining operations, which is in operation now, is not allowing commencing the formation of the internal dump within the planned time. The situation risen is inevitably leading to the decrease of the capacity of the mine and, first of all, of Section 6.

With the purpose of surveying of new solutions for the arrangement of internal waste dumps in October of last year at the entity the Temporary Creative Team (hereinafter referred to as VTK-2008) was established. The leading technical experts of the Company and skilled designers of Karagandagiproshakht and K, LLP comprised it. The adviser to the General Director Dmitriy Melekhov became Head of the Team.

In front of the VTK-2008 there was the following difficult task: within a short term they had to develop efficacious technical solutions for the arrangement of an internal dump at Bogatyr mine, the improvement of the opening schemes of the coal seams of the mine in general and problematic Section 6 in particular. For the period of three and a half months VTK-2008 developed original and unconventional technical solutions and specific measures for the arrangement of the internal dump on the exhausted areas of Sections 5 and 9 of Bogatyr mine.

The implementation of that project will allow commencing dumping of overburden at an internal dump already at the end of 2011, and by 2018 its capacity will have been developed up to 22 million cubic meters per annum, or two thirds of the total overburden volume of Bogatyr mine.

In seven years the creation of an internal dump will enable to put out of operation two more dumps out of the three external ones, which are Lokalny and Stepnoy. So out of seven external dumps, which were functioning in 2000, at Bogatyr Komyr Company only one Pribortovoy dump will remain in operation by 2018.

The decisions developed are both extremely topical in a technical way and economically high-efficient. The capital investments into the implementation of this project in the amount of USD 70.8 million will be paid back in less than two years. The other day at the meeting of the technical and economic council of the entity the VTK-2008 report about the work accomplished was endorsed and accepted for the implementation.