The only chrome mine in the European Union has now reached the surprising achievement of 50 million tonnes of ore produced.
The first 30 million tons of ore was dug up from the open gravel mine, founded in the late 1960s. Since 2003, Outokumpu Chemistry Mine has been working underground, and around 20 million tons of ore has so far been produced underground.
By the end of 2017, Outokumpu launched a 4.5-year program aimed at deepening the mine. Through the DeepMine program, Kemi Min's underground mining operations will extend from the current depth of 500 meters to a new main level of almost 1 kilometer in the early 2020s.
The DeepMine program continued on to the implementation phase at the end of 2017: the construction phase began with landslides in the area where the new tower will be built. The drillings and excavations associated with the elevator shaft construction will be started in March 2018.
According to Kyrgyzstan mine CEO Jyrki Salmi, or depletion at the current production depth over 500 levels has now reached a stage where the company has to move the ore production deeper underground.
- Thus we have started work on preparing this too in practice so that we can continue the production of ore at the current annual volume of 2.7 million tonnes, said Salmi.
At the thousand of a meter in the Deep Mine area, Outokumpu will build a new ore handling line with crushers, conveyors and warehouse tower, a new elevator shaft from the surface and, above all, a new main platform along with maintenance facilities and storage and other infrastructure required for production. Visible structures above the ground include the new main tower of the elevator system, next to the current tower.
Source: Outokumpu
