Russian miner Nornickel plans to increase the production of high-grade ore at its Skalisty (Rocky) mine in Taimyr, Russia, thanks to a 2-kilometre-deep shaft, Kallanish reports.

Announcing the start of extraction at the Glubokaya shaft, the company said on Monday no other company in the Eurasian mining industry has ventured this deep before. Output at the mine should increase from the currently 2.5 million tonnes/year to 3.4m t/y, the company says.

In order to ensure the start of production, two independent vertical shafts were connected - a ventilation shaft and a skip-cage shaft; the joining took place at an elevation of 1,943 metres, which made it possible to combine the necessary infrastructure of the mine and launch general mine ventilation, Nornickel explains.

“Thanks to the connection of two workings, access was gained to new horizons of the Oktyabrsky deposit, where more than 37 million tonnes of high-grade ore have been explored and confirmed,” it added.

“The prospects are enormous and already in 2027, we plan to lift 1.8m t/y of rich ore through the launched shaft,” says the company’s senior vice president Nikolai Utkin. “This will not only replenish the retired capacity, but also ensure an increase in production in the amount of 300,000-400,000 tonnes of ore annually, which ensures over 20 years of steady, consistent operation. We anticipate growth as early as next year due to ore accessed during exploratory passage works.”

The Skalisty mine is the deepest in Eurasia (with a depth of 2,056 m). It was built for the development of the Talnakh and Oktyabrsky fields. The balance reserves of the mine are about 60 million tonnes of rich ore, roughly 20m t of copper ore, and more than 200m t of speckled ore. The reserve is believed to contain both copper and nickel metal.