Environmental protection is a priority area of Kumtor’s activity

published: 25 August 2021

At the initiative of the Temporary External Manager of Kumtor Gold Company (KGC), Tengiz Bolturuk, a set of environmental protection measures has been developed and is being implemented. They are conducted in parallel with the elimination of the faults indicated in the State Commission’s report .

For many years, Centerra hid environmental problems at the Kumtor mine, which led to the situation that is classified as an ecocide in the State Commission’s report. In order to fix what has been destroyed for decades, three months is not enough, however, what has already been done by the team of the External Manager is impressive. First of all, this is a fundamental approach – Glaciers are more important! In this regard, a strategic decision was made to switch to the underground mining.

“This work has already begun. We invite resource geologists and begin to recalculate the Kumtor reserves. It is necessary to find out in detail where the underground ores are located,  what quantity and quality they represent. Next spring, we expect the arrival of designers of underground mines. Together we will continue work that was started in 2008 and stopped in 2012 for unknown reasons. It was a very incompetent, wrong decision”, said Tengiz Bolturuk, KGC Temporary External Manager.

Another disastrous decision for the environment, which was once made by the Canadian company is to pump water for the Mill operational needs from the high-altitude Petrov Lake. The Canadians did not care about the sustainable use of water resources in Kyrgyzstan. Although an alternative solution was obvious. On behalf of the Temporary External Manager, the Mill is gradually switching to using process pit water that needs to be constantly pumped out. The introduction of recirculating water supply will not affect the production process, but now it will be possible to save glacial lake water that will be used only for household needs of the camp.

Kirill Alekseev, KGC Senior Hydrogeology Engineer, explains: “Previously, the Mill was supplied with 230-240 cubic meters of pit water per hour, meanwhile a daily demand is about 750 cubic meters per hour. This year, the supply was increased to 430-460 cubic meters per hour. We have developed a design and we will start implementing it in November. We plan to supply up to 690 cubic meters per hour, i.e., we will cover the Mill needs by 90%.”

One of the comments of the State Commission concerned the efficiency of the Effluent Treatment Plant. This is the highest facility in the world. On behalf of the External Manager, the plant was modernized. After the installation of new units and aggregates, the treatment facilities began to work more efficiently. The quality of treated effluents is continuously monitored by professionals.

Today, all the environmental protection related production processes at the mine are being modernized at Kumtor. Kumtor is becoming an environmentally friendly company: even the processing of waste materials taken care by contractors is now under the strict control of the Company’s environmental officers.

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Kumtor Gold Company CJSC (KGC) adheres to the philosophy of openness and transparency in its work. The KGC activities are exclusively subject to and governed by the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic.