Russia's Industrial Metallurgical Holding (IMH) has announced that its iron ore producing subsidiary KMA Ruda is considering a new investment project directed at expanding its production capacity up to 5.6 million metric tons of iron ore concentrate a year.
A team of specialists, including experts from KMA Ruda and also representatives of one of the leading Russian specialized engineering companies, St. Petersburg-based PeterGORproekt, has developed six expansion options. Three of these are of huge interest: 1) pillar extraction across the Stretenskaya Deposit, 2) opening-up of the level where the horizon is under 71 m, or 3) opening-up of the level where the horizon is above 125 m. The fundamental differences involved are in shaft-sinking: either under layer, incline or combined. All three options have a common feature - i.e. use of state-of-art technology that minimizes manual labor and increases industrial safety.
Currently, the working group is holding a feasibility study on the presented options.