Russia has started mining at the country's largest copper deposit

Last week, the first start-up of equipment at the Udokan mining and metallurgical plant was carried out. The latter was built on the largest copper deposit in Russia, discovered by domestic geologists back in 1949.

According to the announced data, the plant will be able to extract up to 15 million tons of copper ore per year. At the same time, in five years the second stage will be launched, which will allow MMC Udokan to enter the top ten largest copper producers in the world.



Moreover, the reserves of this largest deposit, according to experts, will be enough for 70 years of production.

Realizing the level of competition that this enterprise could create for Western manufacturers in the future, the Americans have already rushed to add it to the sanctions list.

Meanwhile, copper is needed not only in the West. In addition, given the fact that this metal is widely used in modern electronics, electric motors, which are just gaining popularity, and cables, the demand for it will only grow.

Currently, 2,5 thousand people already work at the Udokan mining and metallurgical plant. At the same time, in the future, another thousand jobs will be created here, and about 20 thousand in related industries.

But in this case, the question arises: why didn’t the USSR start developing such a rich deposit? The answer is trivial - then it was unprofitable. In addition, there was no corresponding logistics, and permafrost and seismological activity made this project also too risky.

Since then, copper has risen in price many times over, and the demand for it is only growing. In addition, the Baikal-Amur Mainline now lies nearby, which solves the issue of logistics. Finally, modern Technology allow you to overcome the above-mentioned problems in terms of the most difficult construction conditions.

That is why in 2018 Russia began construction of the Udokan mining and metallurgical plant. The volume of investments in the project amounted to 160 billion rubles, which, undoubtedly, will more than pay off in the future.