Within a period of two and half years, Russian Copper Company has already invested over $120m in multi-layered upgrading of Karabashmed of Chelyabinsk Region, where Russian Copper Company is the controlling shareholder. This resulted in Karabashmed becoming a modern, efficient, and environmentally safe enterprise.

According to the spokesperson for Russian Copper Company, the first stage of modernization included restoration of metallurgical production at the half-ruined site. The second stage consisted in putting up some recycling facilities in order to deal with the disastrous environmental problems in the area; thus, there were built a gas-handling shop equipped with the modern gas- and water-recycling units, the re-circulating water system, and other facilities.

In April 2003, the company’s technicians put into operation a number of devices meant for wet gas purification (made by Boliden Contech AB of Sweden). In May 2005, they also introduced a gas conversion unit that converts wet sulphurous gases into sulfuric acid (produced by WSA Haldor Topsoe A.S. of Denmark). The gas- and water-recycling facilities include a bag collector as well.

The performance of all the recycling devices has, for the first time in the town’s industrial history, led to a dramatic decrease in the amount of harmful emissions. The maximum permissible discharge of heavy metals and sulfurous anhydride is finally within the legal limits, and the re-circulating water system makes sure no industrial water is dumped into Bogorodskiy pond.

The company is hoping to launch Russia’s first iron-and-steel furnace with immersible tuyere (made by Ausmelt of Astralia) at the end of summer. This will signify the completion of the third stage of upgrading. All the steps taken to improve the performance of Karabashmed should lead to a double increase in its throughput (the estimated 90,000 tons of blister copper a year to be made from stamp copper and recycled sinter). The furnace is undergoing balancing and commissioning at the moment.

Russian Copper Company has invested over $26m in a number of projects at Karabashmed since the beginning of 2006. Most of the money is meant for financing the fourth stage of upgrading, that is, putting up a processing plant that will process mineral and sinter. The plant has already been designed and will have been introduced by the end of the year.

‘Restoration of metallurgical production and launching Ausmelt are not the final stages of the upgrading process. We are hoping to put into operation a processing shop soon as it is already under construction. Once the plant starts working, we’ll have a virtually non-waste production, which should lead to greater environmental improvements,’ said Alexander Khanin, Public Relations Director of Russian Copper Company.