Height Winners

Ten students from disadvantaged families have been given the opportunity to study at the New Generation Academy (NGA) at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA), thanks to new scholarships provided by Kumtor. The scholarships for the future university students cover not only tuition, but also include room and board. The NGA program is a year-long course that provides over 600 academic hours of intense English, Kyrgyz, Russian, History, IT, and Science. The curriculum was designed with the help of AUCA partner Bard College, and includes laboratory work, progressive testing, seminars, excursions, and other extracurricular activities. “The New Generation Academy is an innovative initiative of AUCA, and unlike any other program currently offered in Central Asia. We are very pleased that Kumtor has joined us as a sponsor of this program, which was founded only a year ago with the goal of giving students from the poorest regions of the country the opportunity to prove their talent alongside the best and brightest students of the region. Graduates of NGA have strengthened academic skills and the maturity to be successful university students,” said Janat Hetrick, NGA Director. “We are happy that young people in the Kyrgyz Republic, who have excelled despite […]

To bring people and equipment to an altitude of 4,000 meters above sea level, and do it as comfortably and safely as possible, is not an easy thing to do. What does the road to the mine site look like? Is everybody admitted to Kumtor?

Everyone, visitor or employee, is expected to take a medical. Who is in charge of it and what are its procedures? How do medical workers act in an emergency?

The camp is like a regular city. It has sections, streets and busy intersections. Like any other city, it has rush hours twice a day. They are particularly noticeable near the canteen, where night and day shifts meet.

Every working shift begins and ends with a pre-shift meeting, where production plans and results are discussed. What makes an important concern of such meetings is safety and detailed discussion of every violation, even of minor ones. This is a must for ensuring stable and safe operation.

Before developing a deposit you have to ascertain that the area in question does contain gold. This is done by geologists, drillers and lab men.

You can’t do without blasting in mining. In order to mine ore, you need to crush up rock, compressed over millions of years into an unmanageable monolith. Otherwise no equipment can operate here.

What kind of equipment is employed at Kumtor? How are these “monsters” delivered to the mine site and how are they assembled? Is it difficult to manage a vehicle weighing hundreds of tons?

In addition to the open-pit mining methods, Kumtor is getting ready to use underground methods. Are the declines safe and how are they developed?

The gold mill at Kumtor remains not only the highest in the world but also is one of the world’s five largest mills in terms of gold recovery.

More than 2,000 employees, round-the-clock operation and state-of-the-art equipment – all this has been set in motion at Kumtor for the sole purpose: produce several gold bars in a small unremarkable room.