The state expert appraisal agency Glavgosexpertiza has issued a permit to Rosatom to build port facilities for the planned mining and processing plant of the Pavlovskoye lead and zinc project on Yuzhny Island of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in the Arkhangelsk Region.

The decision was made after the analysis of the results of an additional engineering survey conducted for the purpose of preparing design documentation, Glavgosexpertiza said in a statement.

The B+C1+C2 in-place reserves of the Pavlovskoye project are estimated at 2.48 million metric tons of zinc, 549,000 metric tons of lead and 1,194 metric tons of silver. The Pavlovskoye deposit of the Bezymyanskoye ore cluster is one of the five biggest silver-containing polymetallic facilities in Russia.

The Pavlovskoye project will annually mine 3.5 million metric tons of ore, which will be delivered for processing to an enrichment plant, to be built by Rosatom's ARMZ Uranium Holding. It will be the northernmost and the largest enrichment plant in the Arctic. The plant will produce some 220,000 metric tons of zinc concentrate and up to 50,000 metric tons of lead concentrate a year. In line with the investment project, 3.5 million metric tons of ore will be annually produced at the Pavlovskoye deposit. Mining at the facility is scheduled to start in 2021.

The Pavlovskoye investment project is being implemented under a trilateral agreement signed by the Arkhangelsk Region government, Rosatom's ARMZ Uranium Holding and the First Ore Mining Company, an ARMZ subsidiary.

The port facilities with an annual design capacity of up to 500,000 metric tons, where ores will be delivered from the Pavlovskoye project, are to be built on a cape in the deepest part of Bezymyannaya Bay on Yuzhny Island. The onshore infrastructure including two mooring arms will be located along the shoreline in direct proximity to the cape.