13.12.2019

On December 12, Bishkek hosted a round table on the implementation of the Jeruy project, which was attended by Marat Murataliev, the authorized representative of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic in Talas oblast; Marat Cholponkulov, head of the Department of Fuel and Energy of the Government Office; Melis Satybekov, head of geology of the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Mineral Use of the KR; Zholdosh Nurmanbetov, head of mining control at the State Inspection of Environmental and Technical Safety under the KR Government; Zamirbek Sydykov, Talas district akim; Kubanychbek Kanybekov, head of Bekmoldo rural administration, members of the expert group, as well as Alliance Altyn LLC's executives.

Mikhail Shubin, the CEO of Alliance Altyn, made a report on the results of the company's activities in the outgoing year. He said, in particular, that since the beginning of mining operations, 5 thousand tons of ore have already been extracted and sent to the warehouse; the capacity of the quarry is 5 million cubic meters of rock mass. Construction and installation work at the gold extraction plant (the Mill) will be completed by the New Year, and then the commissioning begins. The first gold is expected by the end of March.

According to the approved Technical project, the Mill's ore capacity is 1.3 million tons per year. However, as noted by M. Shubin, in response to a question from Duishenbek Kamchybekov, a member of the Association of Mining Industrialists and Geologists of the Kyrgyz Republic, on the scheme for mining reserves, the Mill is built with a margin of productivity of at least 15%. This provides an opportunity to involve off-balance reserves in mining. The company made technical and economic calculations for the parallel mining of reserves in the open pit and adits, prepared a feasibility study, which was audited by the SRK international company. Additional geophysical studies of board stability are planned in 2020. In case of a positive decision, Alliance Altyn will start the construction of an underground mine in one and a half to two years.

While open-pit mining can produce an average of 4.5 tons of gold per year, parallel open-pit and adit mining produces nearly a ton more annually. Thus, all the balance reserves and, in addition, some of the off-balance (poor in content) reserves of Jeruy can be processed.

At the meeting, much attention was paid to environmental issues. Vat leaching, INCO-process of decontamination and semi-dry storage of tailings were used at the Talas GMC Mill. As pointed out by Kanat Kozhobayev, Doctor of Engineering, the leachates (tailings solution) could be discharged into water (as they already correspond to the 5th class of danger: practically safe). However, additional protection measures have been taken at the Talas GMC: the filtered cake has a moisture content of up to 20% and is placed on a geomembrane, shielded at the top and bottom by a protective substrate and 50-centimeter layers of puddle clay. The remaining water is used for the circulating water supply of the Mill. Due to this, water intake is limited (about 0.05% of the average annual water discharge of Tush-Ashuu). If all these technical solutions are executed, the project will be completely safe, K. Kozhobaev said.

The meeting's participants were equally focused on social issues. As noted by Sheradil Baktygulov, an expert on public administration, the jobs created by Jeruy include not only those employed at the Talas GMC itself and by its contractors. It's also about unleashing the capacities of local businessmen, officials and municipalities. Talasians learn from projects implemented through the Bakubat Talas Fund (which is funded by Alliance Altyn) — and that includes training on how to take advantage of opportunities provided by the state through public-private partnerships.

As confirmed by M. Shubin regarding the Fund, Governor M. Murataliev and Akim Z. Sydykov, are having ongoing discussions with the company on lending issues. The Fund's loan portfolio will be replenished by 90 million KGS annually, this fund is growing - it is necessary to learn how to use it correctly.

Murataliev pointed out that each village government addresses the task of implementing at least two development projects. As a result, Talas oblast — particularly through the implementation of the Jeruy project - will be among the leaders in a few years.