Baimsky MPC to be built in time
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has held a meeting dedicated to the construction of Baimsky Mining and Processing Complex. The project foresees construction of a shipment terminal at Cape Naglyoinyn and deployment of an LNG power plant there.
The Peschanka copper-porphyry deposit has become a point of interest for a major private investor, KAZ Minerals, a company from the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mikhail Mishustin said at the meeting. According to him, the investment project provides for building a mining and processing complex with an annual output of 70 million tonnes of ore. It is expected to increase Russia’s output of non-ferrous metals with a 15 to 20 percent increase in copper concentrate and 77 percent in molybdenum.
“It is essential that any construction project, especially major undertakings like this one, comply with environment protection standards, as well as health regulations. The government will have to support this project financially to get it off the ground. In particular, this relates to finding resources for creating energy and transport infrastructure. There are different opinions and various options here. As we have heard today, one of the main proposals is to build an LNG power plant at the seaport and a 430 kilometre haul road”, Mikhail Mishustin said at the meeting.
Two sites were earlier considered for construction of a sea terminal with annual capacity of up to 2 million tonnes under the project: Pevek and Cape Naglyoinyn the opposite shore of the Chaun Bay.
A source familiar with the project told IAA PortNews that the Chaun Bay features challenging ice conditions with ice thickness reaching 2 meters and insufficient depth in some areas.
As Ilya Davidenko, Head of the Office of the Chukotka Autonomous Area in Moscow, told IAA PortNews at the 5th international conference “The Arctic: Shelf Projects and Sustainable Development of the Regions” (Arctic 2020), construction of a terminal at Cape Naglyoinyn is logistically more reasonable but it will require considerable dredging works.
According to the meeting transcript, the Naglyoinyn is considered as the basic variant for construction of the terminal and a highway.
Besides, there is a plan to place a floating LNG power plant there.
In May 2020, the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic said that the power plant would have a capacity of 365 MW.
An alternative variant of supplying power to Baimsky MPC is the connection to the Magadan power system. For that purpose it is necessary to build a power bridge Omsukchan-Peschanka, reactivate equipment of the Arkagalinskaya GRES and build an auxiliary TPP (247.5 MW) in the Magadan Region.
Aleksandr Kozlov, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, says the variant with a floating LNG power plant requires less capital investments basing on preliminary estimates.
NOVATEK and RusHydro are currently developing contractual arrangements particularly covering leasing out of the floating facility with power plants, LNG supplies and power delivery to Baimsky MPC.
According to Aleksandr Kozlov, investments in the Baimsky deposit development are estimated at RUB 268 billion including about RUB 100 billion for infrastructure development.
VTB earlier expressed its readiness to finance the project.
As of today, construction of on-site infrastructure has begun with basic engineering calculation and designing of support facilities (runway, storage area for explosives, construction camp) having been completed.
Vitaly Chernov
