Author 1:

Name & Surname: Kryuchek O. A.
Company: Apatit JSC (Kirovsk, Russia)
Work Position: Press Secretary
Contacts: e-mail: Okryuchek@phosagro.ru

Author 2:

Name & Surname: Belousova V. D.
Company: Apatit JSC (Kirovsk, Russia)
Work Position: Principal PR Service Specialist

Author 3:

Name & Surname: Ilin S. A.
Company: Ore and Metals Publishing House (Moscow, Russia)
Work Position: Mining Consultant of Gornyi Zhurnal Board
Scientific Degree: Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences

Apatit JSC launched its history in 1929 as a group of an underground mine and a processing plant established on the basis of mineral wealth of the Khibiny Mountains. By the end of the 1930s, the business group produced 1.2 Mt of apatite concentrate per year. During World War II, the company changed to the defense-aimed production and only re-gained the pre-war output rate in terms of the final concentrate by 1950. Within 1961–65 two underground mines and a surface mine, and the second processing plant were constructed. Since 1965 Gornyi Zhurnal has been publishing articles about the company: first as reviews and topical articles on anniversaries of the company (1965–89), later on as individual special issues dedicated to the company (1999–2009). The decade from 1980 to 1989 celebrated the highest production factor of the company, the apatite concentrate output climbed the figure of 20 Mt in 1988. This achievement was backed up with the commissioning of two more open pit mines and the third processing plant. The collapse of the Soviet Union affected the company’s performance: business communications broke, paying capacity of consumers dipped down, governmental support of capital construction was halted. Besides, mineral reserves suitable for mining by economic opencast method verged towards depletion. Under the circumstances, Apatit JSC initiated the sustainable development program, and at the alteration and upgrading of mining and processing activities. In 2002 the company became the part of PhosAgro Holding Company, which strengthened financial standing of Apatit JSC and built up capital construction. At present Apatit maintains stability and success in operation and socioeconomic status.

1. Grigorev A. V. Otkrytoe Aktsionernoe Obshchestvo «Apatit» – flagman gorno-khimicheskoy promyshlennosti Rossii (JSC «Apatit» is a leader of Russian mining-chemical industry). Gornyi Zhurnal = Mining Journal. 2004. No. 9. pp. 8–11.
2. Volkov M. V., Tsarev P. P., Levin B. V. Realizatsiya kompaniey «FosAgro» strategii ustoychivogo razvitiya Otkrytogo Aktsionernogo Obshchestva «Apatit» (Realization of a strategy of sustainable development of JSC «Apatit» by PhosAgro Company). Gornyi Zhurnal = Mining Journal. 2009. No. 9. pp. 5–17.