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More money for Olcon

Iron ore grab and miner.

Severstal will invest more than €75 million in its facilities in the Kola Peninsula.

Location

The Olenogorsk Ore Processing Combine (Olcon), a 100 percent owned subsidiary of Severstal, will in 2012 undergo modernization of both production facilities and equipment.

A total of 2.9 billion RUB will be invested in 2012, most of it in the upgrade of the local processing plant, as well as in new machinery.

The company – the northernmost iron ore producer in Russia – will also step up the search of more iron ore resources in the Kola Peninsula, a press release from the company informs. According to company General Director Aleksandr Popov, extensive exploration of resources is currently conducted in the area of the Svintsovye Tundry, a 36 square kilometer area located next to the company’s existing facilities. The Svintsovye Tundry is believed to hold as much as 91 million tons of iron ore reserves, Metalinfo.ru informs. Olcon in 2010 also secured licenses to the perspective Kurkenpakhk area and the Yuzhno-Kakhozerskoe field, both of them located near current production areas. Olcon today operates a total of six mines, of which one is underground.

Olcon in 2011 produced a total of 4,69 million tons of iron ore concentrate, up from 4,17 million tons in 2010. Most of the ore was sent for processing to Severstal’s metallurgical plant in Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast.

The Olcon company today holds a total of 381 million metric tones of reserves.