Altyntau Kokshetau is a mining and processing enterprise located in the Akmola region on the basis of the Vasilkovskoye gold deposit, which develops the largest gold deposit in Kazakhstan – Vasilkovskoye, whose reserves are about 360 tons.
The history of the Altyntau subsidiary began with the Vasilkovskoye Zoloto project, which combined the mining and processing division of Vasilkovskiy GOK JSC with the technological capabilities of the metallurgical division of Kazzinc using the best world technologies for mining, enrichment and metallurgy.
The Vasilkovsky mine is located 17 km from the city of Kokshetau, Akmola region. Production capacity - 8 million tons of gold ore per year. Ore is mined using a quarry method using a deep mining system using a combined automobile conveyor transport, with the removal of overburden rocks to external dumps. The opening of the deposit is carried out by internal trenches with a spiral shape of the route. The history of the development of the field has more than forty years. The company was founded in 1963. The concentration of metal in the ore is very low, and until recently, gold mining here was considered unprofitable.
In 2006, a new team of managers came to the company, the development of a new business plan for the enterprise and the search for investors began. The efforts were crowned with success, and a year and a half later, construction of a completely new mining and processing plant began at the Vasilkovskoye field. The leading enterprise has grown in record time. It is almost 20 times more powerful than the old production. Altyntau Kokshetau's shareholder, Kazzinc, increased its gold production to 231,259 troy ounces in 2009 from 135,751 troy ounces a year earlier.
The main change in the production process was the introduction of a complex combined technology using traditional operations for extracting gold from ores: flotation, gravity and cyanidation.
In 2011, a subsidiary of Kazzinc, Altyntau, was formed, consisting of three divisions: JSC Altyntau Resources (ATR) - the parent company, Altyntau Kokshetau Ltd (ATK) - on the basis of JSC Vasilkovsky GOK (Kokshetau Akmola region), Altyntau Vostok Ltd (ATV), which included the Ridder-Sokolny mine (Ridder) and the Kazzinc refinery (Ust-Kamenogorsk).
In the future, it is planned to increase several times the total area of ​​the mining allotment for exploration and subsequent mining in the adjacent areas of the ore field. In parallel with the development of the upper part of the deposit, the construction of an underground mine will begin in 2013.
The Vasilkovskoye gold deposit is one of the largest deposits in Kazakhstan and the CIS countries in terms of reserves (over 300 tons). The deposit was discovered in 1963. JSC "Vasilkovsky GOK" carries out the extraction and processing of gold-bearing ores of the Vasilkovsky deposit, mining operations at which were started in 1979. The end product of the enterprise is cathode gold (Dore alloy).

From 1991 to 2010, Vasilkovsky GOK used heap leaching technology, involving mixed and sulfide gold ores with a low metal content (1.2-1.8 grams per ton) in the process. Heap leaching (stack) is the process of extracting gold with a solvent component from ore stored in a watertight area in the form of a heap. The leaching of a useful component from an ore body should be understood as a process of selective dissolution by a chemical reagent and subsequent removal of the resulting chemical compounds from the reaction zone by the power of a moving solvent stream. The leaching of the metal enclosed inside the ore pieces occurs due to molecular diffusion.

During the period from 2005 to 2008, a number of major global mining companies carried out exploration work at the Vasilkovskoye deposit and developed new options for mining the deposit, taking into account the predominant sulfide composition of ores. As a result, a project was adopted according to which sulphide ores began to be processed at a gold recovery plant using an advanced combined technology, which includes gravity, flotation enrichment, fine and ultrafine grinding, chemical oxidation of sulphide concentrate, cyanidation. Charcoal is used as a sorbent. The launch of the plant using the new technology was given in the summer of 2010.

2. The field is located in the Zerenda district of the Akmola region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The deposit is a linearly elongated stockwork with an area of ​​700 x 850 m with a traced mineralization depth of up to 350 m. The deposit belongs to gold-sulfide-quartz and moderately sulfide.

3. Today, the depth of the Vasilkovsky quarry reaches 90 meters, the width is almost 2 kilometers. The sulfide ores of the Vasilkovskoye deposit are highly resistant due to fine dissemination of gold in sulfides. Imagine, one ton of ore contains about two grams of gold!

4. According to the conditions of occurrence and thickness of ore bodies, open pit mining is accepted. The quarry consists of a working area where material is mined, a mined-out area, a waste rock dump, transport and energy devices, a warehouse for finished products and explosives.

5. The development of overburden rocks and ore is carried out by separate ledges. Overburden rocks are taken to external dumps located southeast of the quarry, and ore to a crushing and screening complex.

6. Doré alloy (ligature gold) obtained at the factory consists of 90% gold, 9% silver and only 1% other impurities. The alloy is produced in the form of ingots weighing 25 kilograms.

7. The process of loading the rock mass is carried out by front loaders.

8. The company abandoned heap leaching for the processing of gold ore and introduced a combined technology using traditional operations for extracting gold from ores: gravity, flotation and cyanidation.

9. Currently, the quarry has 67 units of mining equipment manufactured in the USA, Japan and Sweden with a total value of more than 50 million dollars.

10. During 30 years of development and before its closure for modernization in 2006, 14.3 million tons of ore were mined at the Vasilkovskoye deposit and 11.5 tons of gold were produced. And the production capacity of the new factory allows processing 8 million tons of ore and producing 13-14.5 tons of gold annually. In total, it is planned to produce about 215 tons of gold for the entire period of operation.

Reports from the quarry: from

-- Not selected -- Azov. Azov Historical, Archaeological and Paleontological Museum-Reserve Aikhal. Geological Museum of the Amakinsk Exploration Expedition of AK ALROSA Aldan. Aldangeology. Geological Museum Alexandrov. Geological Museum VNIISIMS Anadyr. Museum Center "Heritage of Chukotka" Anadyr. Chukotnatural resources. Geological Museum Angarsk. Angarsk Museum of Minerals Apatity. Geological Museum of Apatity. Museum of Geology and Mineralogy named after I.V. Belkova Arkhangelsk. Arkhangelsk Regional Museum of Local Lore Arkhangelsk. Geological Museum named after Academician N.P. Laverov NArFU Bagdarin. Geological Museum of the village. Bagdarin Barnaul. Geological Museum Barnaul. Museum "World of Stone" Barnaul. Museum of Mineralogy Belgorod. Belgorod State Museum of History and Local Lore Birobidzhan. Museum of Natural Resources Birobidzhan. Regional Museum of Local Lore of the Jewish Autonomous Region Blagoveshchensk. Amurgeology. Collection (museum) fund Blagoveshchensk. Amur Regional Museum of Local Lore. G.S. Novikov-Daursky Veliky Ustyug. Veliky Ustyug State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve Vladivostok. Geological and mineralogical museum of FEGI Vladivostok. Geological and Mineralogical Museum. A.I. Kozlova Vladivostok. Collection (museum) fund Vladivostok. Primorsky State United Museum. V.K.Arsenyeva Vologda. Geological Museum Volsk. Volsky Museum of Local Lore in Vorkuta. Geological Museum Voronezh. Geological Museum Gorno-Altaisk. National Museum of the Republic of Altai named after A.V. Anokhina Gubkin. Museum of the History of KMA Dalnegorsk. Museum and Exhibition Center of Dalnegorsk Yekaterinburg. Geological Museum Lyceum No. 130 Yekaterinburg. Historical and Mineralogical Museum Yekaterinburg. Ural Geological Museum Yekaterinburg. Ural Mineralogical Museum V.A. Pelepenko Essentuki. Department of Natural Resources for the North Caucasus region. Geological Museum Zarechny. Museum of mineralogy, stone-cutting and jewelry art Izhevsk. National Museum of the Udmurt Republic Irkutsk. Geological Museum of the Irkutsk State (Classical) University Irkutsk. Geological Museum. Sosnovgeologiya. Irkutsk. Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local Lore Irkutsk. Mineralogical Museum. A.V. Sidorova Irkutsk. Museum of the Irkutsk Geological Prospecting College Irkutsk. Museum of Mineral Resources of the Irkutsk Region Irkutsk. Scientific and educational geological museum Kazan. Geological Museum. A.A. Shtukenberg Kazan. National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan Kaliningrad. Kaliningrad Amber Museum Kaliningrad. Museum of the World Ocean Kamensk-Uralsky. Geological Museum. Academician A.E. Fersman Kemerovo. Kuznetsk Geological Museum Kyiv. Geological Museum of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Kyiv. Mineralogical Museum (Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Ore Formation named after M.P. Semenenko of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) Kyiv. Mineralogical Museum UkrGGRI (Ukrainian State Geological Prospecting Institute) Kyiv. National Science and Natural History Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Kirovsk. Museum and Exhibition Center JSC "Apatit" Kotelnich. Kotelnich Paleontological Museum Krasnodar. Krasnodar State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve. E.D. Felitsyna Krasnokamensk. Mineralogical Museum. B.N. Khomentovsky Krasnoturinsk. Fedorovsky Geological Museum Krasnoyarsk. Museum of Geology of Central Siberia Krasnoyarsk. Museum of Geology of Central Siberia (GEOS) Kudymkar. Komi-Permyatsky Museum of Local Lore P.I. Subbotina-Permyak Kungur. Museum of local lore of the city of Kungur Kursk. Kursk State Regional Museum of Local Lore Kyakhta. Kyakhta Museum of Local Lore. Academician V.A. Obruchev Listvyanka. Baikal Museum of the Institute of Science and Technology Center of the SB RAS Lukhovitsy. Geological Museum Lviv. Mineralogical Museum named after Academician Yevgeny Lazarenko Magadan. Geological Museum of the Magadan branch of FGU Magadan. Museum of Natural History SVKNII FEB RAS Magnitogorsk. Geological Museum of Moscow State Technical University. G.I. Nosova Magnitogorsk. Magnitogorsk Local Lore Museum Maykop. Geological and mineralogical museum Mama. Local lore suzey of the department of culture of the administration of the Mamsko-Chuysky district of Miass. Natural Science Museum of the Ilmensky Reserve Mirny. Museum of Kimberlites of AK "ALROSA" D.I.Savrasova Monchegorsk. Monchegorsk Museum of Colored Stone V.N. Come on Moscow. Diamond fund. Gokhran of Russia. Moscow. Geological Museum of the Central Region of Russia. P.A. Gerasimov Moscow. Geological Museum. V.V. Ershov MSGU Moscow. Geological and Mineralogical Museum of the Russian State Agrarian University K.A. Timiryazeva Moscow. State Geological Museum. IN AND. Vernadsky Moscow. Mineralogical Museum MGRI-RGGRU Moscow. Mineralogical Museum. A.E. Fersman RAS Moscow. Museum "Gems" Moscow. Museum of the Russian Center for Micropaleontological Reference Collections Moscow. Museum of Extraterrestrial Matter Moscow. Museum of Natural History of Moscow and Central Russia Moscow. Museum of Earth Science, Moscow State University. Museum of uranium ores JSC "VNIIKhT" Moscow. Museum Lithoteca VIMS Moscow. Paleontological Museum. Yu.A.Orlova Moscow. Ore-petrographic museum of IGEM RAS Murzinka. Murzinsky Mineralogical Museum named after A.I. A.E. Fersman Murmansk. Murmansk regional museum of local lore in Mytishchi. Geological and Mineralogical Museum. V.I. Zubova MGOU Nalchik. National Museum of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic Nizhny Novgorod. Geological Museum JSC "Volgageology" Nizhny Novgorod. Nizhny Novgorod State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve Nizhny Tagil. Nizhny Tagil Museum-Reserve "Gornozavodskoy Ural" Novokuznetsk. Geological Museum (Exhibition Hall) of the Kemerovo branch of the Federal State Institution "TFGI in the Siberian Federal District" Novorossiysk. Novorossiysk State Historical Museum-Reserve Novosibirsk. Geological Museum of Novosibirsk State University. Geological Museum SNIIGGiMS Novosibirsk. Central Siberian Geological Museum Novocherkassk. Geological Museum Novocherkassk. Geological Museum - Geological office of SRSPU (NPI) Omsk. Omsk State Museum of Local History Orenburg. Interdepartmental Geological Museum of the Orenburg Region Orsk. Geological Museum Partizansk. Geological Museum of Perm. Mineralogical Museum of the Perm University Perm. Museum of the "Perm system" Perm. Museum of Paleontology and Historical Geology. B.K. Polenova Petrozavodsk. Museum of Precambrian Geology Petrozavodsk. Department of Natural Heritage of Karelia Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Kamchatgeology. Geological Museum of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Museum of Volcanology IViS FEB RAS Pitkyaranta. Local Lore Museum. VF Sebina Priozersk. Museum-fortress "Korela" Revda. Local Lore Museum of the Lovozero Mining and Processing Plant Revda. Museum-cabinet of geology for children on the border between Europe and Asia Rostov-on-Don. Mineralogical and petrographic museum of SFU Samara. Samara Regional Museum of History and Local Lore. P.V. Alabina St. Petersburg. "Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic" St. Petersburg. Geological Museum VNIIOkeangeologiya St. Petersburg. Mining Museum St. Petersburg. Mineralogical Museum of St. Petersburg State University St. Petersburg. Museum of Petroleum Geology and Paleontology St. Petersburg. Paleontological Museum St. Petersburg. Paleontological and Stratigraphic Museum St. Petersburg. Territorial Fund of Geological Information for the Northwestern Federal District. Geological Museum St. Petersburg. Central Research Geological Prospecting Museum. Academician F.N. Chernysheva (TsNIGR MUSEUM) Saranpaul. Museum of quartz Saransk. Museum of Mineralogy Saratov. Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore Svirsk. Arsenic Museum Sevastopol. Sevastopol Stone Museum Severouralsk. Museum "Original cabinet" Simferopol. Geological Museum. N. Andrusova (Crimean Federal University) Slyudyanka. Private mineralogical museum-estate of V.A. Zhigalov "Gems of Baikal" Smolensk. Natural History Museum of Sortavala. Regional Museum of Northern Ladoga Syktyvkar. Geological Museum. A.A. Chernova Syktyvkar. National Museum of the Republic of Komi Tver. Museum of Geology of Natural Resources of the Tver Region Teberda. Museum of minerals, ores, gems "Amazing in stone" Tomsk. Geological Museum of Tomsk. Mineralogical Museum of TPU Tomsk. Mineralogical Museum. I.K.Bazhenova Tomsk. Paleontological Museum. V.A. Khakhlov Tula. Federal fund of standards of ores of strategic types of mineral raw materials. Tyumen. Museum of Geology, Oil and Gas (branch of the Tyumen Regional Museum of Local Lore named after I.Ya. Slovtsov) Tyumen. Museum of the History of Science and Technology of the Trans-Urals Ulan-Ude. Geological Museum of PGO "Buryatgeologiya" Ulan-Ude. Museum of the Buryat Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Ulan-Ude. Museum of Nature of Buryatia Ulyanovsk. Museum of Natural History Umba. Amethyst Museum Ufa. Museum of Geology and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Bashkortostan Ukhta. Ukhtaneftegazgeology. Geological Museum of Ukhta. Educational Geological Museum. A.Ya.Kremsa Khabarovsk. State Museum of the Far East. N.I. Grodekova Kharkiv. Museum of Nature KhNU Khoroshev (Volodarsk-Volynsky). Museum of Precious and Decorative Stones. Cheboksary. Geological Museum of Cheboksary. Chuvash National Museum Chelyabinsk. Chelyabinsk Geological Museum Cherepovets. Museum of Nature of the Cherepovets Museum Association Chita. Geological and mineralogical museum of Chita. Chita Regional Museum of Local Lore named after A.K. Kuznetsova Egvekinot. Egvekinot Museum of Local Lore Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Geological Museum Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Sakhalin State Regional Museum of Local Lore Yakutsk. Geological Museum (IGABM SB RAS) Yakutsk. Geological Museum State Unitary Enterprise "Sakhageoinform" Yakutsk. Mineralogical Museum of NEFU M.K. Ammosova Yakutsk. Mammoth Museum Yaroslavl. Geological Museum. Professor A.N. Ivanova Yaroslavl. Museum of Scientific Continental Drilling of Deep and Superdeep Wells

In the Akmola region, 15 kilometers from Kokshetau, there is a unique deposit where gold is mined. The history of Vasilkovsky GOK reflects the history of the country itself: the enterprise experienced both stagnation and complete decline, and a real revival under a new name - "Altyntau Kokshetau"

Once upon a time there was a small hole in this place, which in 33 years turned into a huge quarry with a depth of 135 meters and a surface area of ​​​​1210 thousand m 2

Viktor Yezhov, Deputy Chief Production Engineer, is celebrating a kind of symbolic date this year: he came to the Vasilskovsky GOK (ore mining and processing plant) as a 22-year-old guy, has worked for 33 years since then, and this year he celebrated his 55th anniversary.

I remember when I returned from the army, they called me here as a foreman, but due to the fact that I lasted a week, I already got a job as a mechanic, - he smiles. - I had to work hard to first reach the rank of master, and then go all the way.

Yezhov is one of those who remember how in the early 80s there was a shallow hole here. It increased extremely slowly, in the mid-90s there was even a period when production was not carried out at all. The price of gold then reached a record drop to $260 per ounce, and there was simply no money to develop the quarry. People have been out of work for months, waiting for a call. With the arrival of investments in the mid-2000s, gold mining at the deposit received a second wind. It took 700 million dollars to revive production, but in the last two years alone, it has been possible to extract as much gold as it had been mined for two decades - 11.5 tons. In 2010, at the suggestion of the Head of State, Vasilkovsky GOK was renamed into the company "Altyntau Kokshetau"

Now the work in the quarry is carried out non-stop

The same action takes place 24 hours a day: an excavator scoops up gold-bearing ore with a bucket and unloads it into huge Cats (note: Cat - from Caterpillar, a manufacturer of dump trucks and other mining equipment). And they are already taking it to the crusher, from where the ore will come along the conveyor to the factory, where gold will be extracted from it

Design capacity - 8 million tons of ore per year. While mined - 6. One ton of ore accounts for 2 grams of gold. It is because of these tiny particles that such a colossal work is being done.

The old Belaz trucks were replaced by SAT-777 dump trucks. One such SAT weighs 70 tons, while its carrying capacity is from 90 to 100 tons. He is like a huge ant that can lift a load that exceeds his own weight. And as drivers say, it is even easier to drive than a passenger car.

When SATs were first purchased, each car was given its own nickname. Now they are driving around their careers: "Jaguar", "Tiger", "Golden Antelope", "Vanguard", "Excellent" and even touching "Orange"

Sergey Dyakonov, a CAT D10 bulldozer operator, has been with the company for 12 years.

This is good now: the car has air conditioning, a stove, cleanliness! And earlier, elbow-deep in fuel oil and the whole day in this mud. Oh, what is there to remember!

The driver of the CAT-16 M motor grader, Adilbek Kaiyrbekov, also remembers the difference between the past and current equipment.

Previously, the grader was with a steering wheel, but now without it, we work on levers.

And this colossus is the largest excavator in the world RH 120-E TEREX. It has a long-term capacity of 2,000 tons per hour. The bucket alone has a capacity of 15 m³ and it fills the body of a huge CAT in just a few times.

Prior to this, the gold mining process was carried out using the heap leaching method. This is when the ore is irrigated with sodium cyanide solution and the gold is extracted from the rock. But this method made it possible to efficiently process only oxidized ore, the reserves of which were gradually decreasing, and the processing of more refractory sulfide ores required new technologies and significant investments. Now the loosening of rocks is carried out by drilling and blasting, and for the extraction of gold, a more complex combined technology is used using traditional operations: flotation, gravity and hydrometallurgy.

Quarry development begins with the work of a mine surveyor. Dmitry Zhmurkov, together with the team, makes measurements of deposits, outlines a work plan and monitors compliance with a strict technological regime. Then comes the turn of geologists who determine the presence of gold ore

Then it's time for the drillers. Drilling rig operator assistant Yerken Shamgunov shows how they drill small holes 16 meters deep, in which explosives will be placed
g

Explosions are made twice a week. An hour before, all people and equipment leave the quarry, for safety reasons, electricity is turned off

And then the same process begins: the excavator scoops up the ore, and the trucks take it to the crusher

The ore from the quarry is fed into the hopper of the coarse crusher. There it is crushed to a size (fraction) of 350 mm, from where it first goes to roll presses, and then to ball mills

Grinding is carried out in two stages. The first stage takes place in the semi-autogenous grinding mill, after which the crushed ore is sent for screening. Larger stones are sent for regrinding, and fine ore goes to ball mills of the second stage

Having gone through all the stages of crushing, the crushed ore finally reaches the stage when the extraction of gold begins.

In 2007, Altyntau Kokshetau began construction of a unique gold recovery plant. It was built quickly - in just two years. At the opening ceremony, the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, said that this is the largest plant in Kazakhstan, and indeed in the world, that will mine and produce gold.

At full design capacity, the plant will produce 15 tons of gold per year. Kazakhstan today produces more than 20 tons, that is, by reaching 35 tons per year, we will be among the 15 largest gold-mining countries in the world, he said.

As with any secure facility, entry here is strictly limited. Security screens every incoming person.

There is a full-length mirror in front of the entrance so that the visitor can feel the importance of responsibility.

And this is the control room, from where you can observe the entire production cycle. It is here that you can also see with your own eyes, and not on monitors, the process of work of the flotation and gravity department

Here are the one-of-a-kind Outotec ball mills designed specifically for Altyntau. No one else in the world has a similar design of this size.

But this flotation machine is designed to separate gold and other non-ferrous metals

The flotation machine works as follows. Water is supplied to the upper cylindrical part, and a pre-aerated pulp treated with reagents (a mixture of water and rock) is supplied through a separate pipe. Compressed air is supplied to concentric tubular aerators and bubbles are mineralized. Gold particles stick to these bubbles, which are further thickened and filtered.

Flotation and Gravity Department

The gravity process is based on the use of gravity, in which minerals are separated from the waste rock due to the difference in their density and particle size. This principle can be illustrated by the separation of sand from sawdust when they are thrown into water: sawdust floats, and sand sinks in water.

The consistency of the final product resembles dirt, but it is perhaps the most expensive "dirt" on earth.

And this is the department of hydrometallurgy, where gold is also isolated from ore using aqueous solutions with certain chemicals.

But the output is the so-called doré alloy - a gold-silver alloy containing about 80 percent gold and 20 percent silver. It is sent to a refinery, where it is turned into ready-made ingots of the precious metal. In one of the following reports, we will show how gold of the highest standard can be obtained from such a bar. Stay with us!

2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENTERPRISE JSC "VASYLKOVSKY GOK"

Brief information about the Vasilkovskoye gold deposit

The Vasilkovskoye gold deposit is one of the largest deposits in Kazakhstan and the CIS countries in terms of reserves (over 300 tons). The deposit was discovered in 1963. Currently, the final product of the enterprise is cathode gold. Its extraction from the ore is carried out using the "heap leaching" technology. For the first time among the CIS countries, this method was mastered at the Vasilkovsky GOK in 1991. The plant annually produces about 900 kg of cathode metal. Since the beginning of the introduction of the "heap leaching" method, about 7 tons of precious metal have been obtained. JSC "Vasilkovsky GOK" is designed and is being built to develop a deposit of gold-bearing ores, located in the Republic of Kazakhstan, 17 km north of the city of Kokshetau.

JSC "Vasilkovsky GOK" carries out the extraction and processing of gold-bearing ores of the Vasilkovsky deposit, mining operations at which began in 1979. The greatest economic effect from field development can be achieved by combining factory technology with heap leaching.

Since 1991, Vasilkovsky GOK (JSC Vasilkovsky GOK) has been using heap leaching technology, involving mixed and sulfide gold ores with a low metal content (1.2 - 1.8 g / t), the introduction of which has increased the output final products (cathode gold), as well as to increase the profitability of the production of the enterprise as a whole.

At present, due to the trend of reducing the extraction of ores with a high content of useful components, the deterioration of their quality, geotechnological methods of processing poor, off-balance, difficult-to-enrich ores and technogenic raw materials are becoming increasingly important. Geotechnology is based on the transfer of useful components of the ore into solution at the place of occurrence or placement on special sites, using chemical or organic processes (heap leaching method).

The extraction of useful components from ores by this method has a number of technical and economic advantages over traditional methods of their processing:

Expansion of the raw material base through involvement in the processing of mixed, sulfide ores and technogenic raw materials;

Possibility of exploitation of small deposits;

Relative simplicity of technology;

Relatively low capital and operating costs;

Faster start of field development in time.

The industrial site of Vasilkovsky GOK JSC is located in the Akmola region, Zerenda district, 20 km north of the city of Kokshetau. JSC "Vasilkovsky GOK" carries out the extraction and processing of gold-bearing ores of the Vasilkovsky gold deposit.

The Vasilkovskoye deposit is a linearly elongated stockwork with an area of ​​700x850 m with a traced mineralization depth of up to 350 m. The deposit belongs to the gold-sulfide-quartz and moderately sulfide deposits. The host rocks are mainly granitoids, more rarely gabbro and gabbro-diorite. The main ore minerals are gold, arsenopyrite, bismuth minerals. Both primary and oxidized ores are developed at the deposit, the latter are confined to the weathering crust. Primary ores in the quarry account for more than 97% of the balance ore reserves. Moreover, 70-80% of them are composed of granitoids. The rest are gabbrodiorites.

Oxidized ores are developed in the weathering crust and differ sharply from primary sulfide ores. They are dominated by minerals of oxides, hydroxides and other oxygen compounds. Another important feature of oxidized ores is a sharply reduced mechanical strength due to weathering processes. The oxidized part of the reserves has almost been depleted to date. The only useful component in the ores, the extraction of which is now profitable, is gold. Of the most common associated components is arsenic. About 90% of gold is associated with rock-forming minerals, 10% - with sulfide and arsenic compounds.

Favorable mining and geological conditions (thick columnar deposit covered with loose Quaternary deposits up to 20 m thick) and the possibility of using overburden for the production of crushed stone predetermined the open-pit development of the deposit. eight

Remoteness of the Vasilkovskoye field from the nearest settlements:

P. Krasny Yar - 7.25 km south of the field

P. Konysbay - 3.25 km southeast of the open pit mine

P. Birlistik - 10 km north of the mine