Ore refinery to be launched on Novaya Zemlya in 2021
© RIA Novosti. Pavel Lisitsyn

Ore refinery to be launched on Novaya Zemlya in 2021

An ore refinery will be launched on Novaya Zemlya in 2021 to process lead and zinc ores extracted at the Pavlovskoye ore field, AtomRedMedZoloto (ARMZ), a uranium holding set up by the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom), said in its 2015 annual report, according to RIA Novosti.

"When engineering, exploration, project design and other necessary work is completed in 2019, the construction of an ore processing plant is scheduled to begin. After the plant is built and put into operation in 2021, the extraction and processing of lead and zinc ores will get under way with subsequent sales of lead and zinc concentrates," the report says.

The estimated reserves of the Pavlovskoye field are 2.48 million metric tons of zinc, 549,000 metric tons of lead and 1,194 metric tons of silver.

The ARMZ-integrated First Ore Mining Company is the project's operator.

Geological prospecting at the exploration stage will be carried by another ARMZ company, Rusburmash.

The Pavlovskoye ore field, one of the largest deposits of the Bezymyanny ore cluster, sprawls out over a 12 sq km area off the Barents coast, 16-18 km from a gulf deep enough for sea vessels with a displacement of 6,000-8,000 metric tons.