“Russian Copper Company” JSC, Ekaterinburg, Russia

I. A. Altushkin, Chairman of Board of Directors
Yu. A. Korol, Vice-President, e-mail: u.korol@mail.ru

“Aktobe Copper Company” LLP, Aktobe, Republic of Kazakhstan

A. V. Sizikov, Chief Executive Officer
F. S. Sufyanov, Deputy Chief Executive Officer

For the period of two years, “Aktobe Copper Company” LLP has designed and built a modern processing plant at the “bare ground” in Khromtau District near Aktobe region (Republic of Kazakhstan). The total ore capacity of two processing plants accounted 4.5 mln. t. The total amount of investment into the construction of factories is 277.3 mln USD. During the operation period of the first processing plant, since 2007, 12.5 mln. t and 154.9 th. t of copper in the concentrate have been processed and received respectively. The global experience was used as much as possible, in the course of designing and construction. The most modern technological equipment was purchased. During the development of processes, equipment and new productions, the company was faced with a number of errors, related to the insufficient study of process regulations. The following impacts were not properly analyzed and taken into account in these regulations:
— the deposit`s ores have a significant number of pyrrhotite;
— the basic amount of the chalcopyrite-pyrite-pyrrhotite ores is concentrated in the richest and most extraction profitable deposits;
— the part of iron, presented by the pyrrhotite in chalcopyritepyrite-pyrrhotite ores, is up to 50%;
— the content of zinc in solid ores (80% of reserves) ranges from 0.3 to 3.3%, and is distributed very unevenly between the ore bodies;
— the significant difference between the ores of the “50 years of October” deposit and other pyrite deposits of the Southern Ural lies in the fact, that they contain the significant amounts of pyrrhotite, magnetite, anthophyllite, cordierite and biotite, which, in general, is not characteristic to the pyrite formation ores;
— because of the frequent alternation of different ore types, their selective excavation is impossible.
The constant and systematic work, based on the technology improvement and the removement of disadvantages of the regulations and accepted concentration schemes, made it possible to reach the technological parameters of ores from the considered deposit, recommended with the reserves assertion and issuance of extraction license. The problems, connected with the providing of stable operation process of the whole processing plant were solved during the implementation of imported technological equipment.

1. Fatkhutdinov R. A. Innovatsionnyy menedzhment : ucheb nik dlya vuzov (Innovation management : tutorial for universities). The sixth edition. Saint Petersburg : Piter, 2011.
2. Kakaeva E. A., Dunenkova E. N. Innovatsionnyy biznes: strategicheskoe upravlenie razvitiem : uchebnoe posobie (Innovation business : strategic development control : tutorial). Moscow : Academy of National Economy “Delo”, 2010.
3. Outotec. Available at : http://www.outotec.com
4. Mashevskiy G. N., Petrov A. V., Romanenko S. A. et al. Obogashchenie Rud – Mineral processing. 2012. No. 4. pp. 36–42.
5. Jeffrey Liker. Dao Toyota: 14 printsipov menedzhmenta vedushchey kompanii mira (The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer). Translated from English. Moscow : Alpina Business Book, 2005.
6. Masaaki Imai. Kaydzen: кlyuch k uspekhu yaponskikh kompaniy (Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success). Translated from English. The fifth edition. Moscow : Alpina Publishers, 2011.
7. Topoev A. N., Boyko A. V., Vakhrushev M. I. et al. Geologicheskiy otchet s podschetom zapasov po mednokolchedannomu mestorozhdeniyu “50 let Oktyabrya”. Severnye Mugodzhary. Obyasnitelnaya zapiska. Tom 1. Kniga 1 (Geological report with the calculation of reserves from the copper-pyrite deposit “50 years of October”. Nothern Mughodzhary. Explanatory note. Volume 1. Book 1). Koktau : Ministry of Geology of Kazakhstan SSR, 1970.
8. Topoev A. N., Boyko A. V., Vakhrushev M. I. et al. Geologicheskiy otchet s podschetom zapasov po mednokolchedannomu mestorozhdeniyu “50 let Oktyabrya”. Severnye Mugodzhary. Obyasnitelnaya zapiska. Tom 1. Kniga 2 (Geological report with the calculation of reserves from the copper-pyrite deposit “50 years of October”. Nothern Mughodzhary. Explanatory note. Volume 1. Book 2). Koktau : Ministry of Geology of Kazakhstan SSR, 1970.
9. Nuzhdin V. K. Annotatsiya po teme 141-70 “Laboratornye issledovaniya obogatimosti proby prozhilkovo-vkraplennykh rud mestorozhdeniya “50 let Oktyabrya” (Annotation on the subject 141-70 “Laboratory researches of the concentrating of the tests of vein-disseminated ores of the “50 years of October” deposit). Sverdlovsk : Uralmekhanobr, 1970.