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Large Porphyry Copper Deposit Found in Magadan Oblast

On Wednesday, 21 April, Ural State Mining University (USMU) reported that its research team had confirmed the resource potential of a porphyry copper deposit found in Magadan Oblast. The ore body extends over an area of 600 metres, USMU's Press Office informs. This conclusion comes from the evidence from drilling operations and corresponds to the researchers' preliminary estimates of the deposit containing 9.8 mln tonnes of copper.

During last summer's geological and geophysical field works, USMU's students and researchers obtained the first-time data indicating the occurrence of a large deposit in the prospective area of Priohotsk. The study comes as part of a three-year agreement between the University and Karamken Geological & Geophysical Expedition. The commissioner is the Regional Junior Exploration Company, set up at the initiative of Sergey Nosov, the Governor of Magadan Oblast.

"Practitioners and academicians have been working together for only a year. Yet they have managed to gather a lot of data on mineral resources available in the region and prove their potential," says Alexey Dushin, Rector of the University.

Preliminary estimated copper reserves in Magadan Oblast amount to approximately 44 mln tons. The extraction of the non-ferrous metal will start after expanding transport infrastructure coupled with the establishment of two mining complexes. Their total output should reach 200,000 tons of copper per year.

Let us recall that USMU's researchers have invented and registered a peat-based sorbent. With their solution, it is possible to significantly shorten the time needed for reclamation of lands affected by previous use for mining purposes.