Sergey Boltramovich, Grigory Dudarev, and Vladimir Gorelov ... - Etla

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The province occupies the third position in Russia by the total output
volume of iron ore after the Kursk iron ore province and the Urals. At
present seven iron-ore deposits are exploited in the region. Open-cut
mining is used for iron ore extraction, which is carried out by the three
mining-and-enrichment plants (Russian abbreviation – GOK): Olenegorsk
GOK, Kovdor GOK, and Kostomuksha GOK. The supplies for the future
extractions make up 9-17, 20, and 55 years respectively.
Olcon (Olenegorsk GOK) works four ferruginous quartzite deposits
located nearby. In the year 2000 about 9.8 million tons of ore was extracted
(while the potential output of the quarries is 11.4 million tons),
out of which 3.9 million tons of iron-ore concentrate (Fe content
65.9%) was produced. At the beginning of 1999, the reserves made up
543 million tons, including 100 million tons for open-cut mining. There
are reserves to provide open-cut mining for 8-12 years, after that underground
mining will begin.
Kovdor GOK works Kovdor deposit of baddeleyite-apatite-magnetite
complex ore. The quarry's annual potential ore output is 16 million
tons. In the year 2000 about 11 million tons of ore were extracted. The
reserves left at the beginning of 2001 made up 541 million tons.
Karelsky Okatysh (former Kostomuksha GOK) works the reserves of
Kostomuksha ore area. In addition, there are the reserves of Korpanga
deposit located nearby. Total reserves made up 1,419 million tons (at the
beginning of 1994), including Kostomuksha deposit – 1,092 million tons,
and Korpanga deposit – 327 million tons. Potential ore output of the
quarry is 24 million tons per year, and the potential output of the oreenrichment
plant is 8.8 million tons of iron-ore pellets per year.
At present, the Severstal holding, which controls Kostomuksha and Olenegorsk,
tends to discontinue further development of the Olenegorsk deposits.
Instead, the company plans to purchase the cheaper and higher quality
ore from the Kursk iron ore province, which is located from Cherepovets
even nearly than the Kola Peninsula ore deposits.
There are no significant deposits of other ferrous metals ores, primarily
manganese and chromium, in Northwest Russia. However,
there is a significant deposit of chromium ores recently prospected in
Republic of Komi, which, in view of current lack of such resources in
Russia, is certainly going to be developed in future.
Non-ferrous Ores
The region has ore reserves for aluminum, copper, nickel and some
other non-ferrous metals production.