Mining

Being the basis of Chukotka economy, gold-mining started in 1957 here. Prior to 1996 mining involved only lode deposits, and it was not until 1996 that first lode gold deposits were put into operation. The maximum yearly volume of extraction (more than 36 tons) was reached in 1974, as a unique placer Ryveem was put into operation. Between 1992 and 2001 because of worsening of social and economic situation in the Okrug, reformation of enterprises, exhaustion of mineral raw stuffs basis for placer gold, being unprepared for putting into operation new gold deposits, the level of gold-mining dropped from 15 to 5 tons a year. Okrug Authorities helped stop further drop in volumes of extracted gold. Since 2002 its volume has stayed at 4.7-4.9 tons a year, and ore gold-mining is increasing.

In 2005, 24 gold-mining companies worked in the Okrug. They mined 4663.8 kilos of gold including 1554.2 kilos of lode gold. Along with that they also mined 9,813 kilos of silver. These companies can be divided into 4 groups according to the volumes of extraction:

• More than 1000 kg – 1 company (35 % of total extractions in 2006);
• 500-1000 kg – 2 companies (31 %);
• 50-500 kg – 8 companies (30 %);
• Less than 50 kg – 13 companies (4 %).

Table 1. Gold-mining by districts (2005):

District	Extracted (kg)	Share in the Okrug
Anadyr	1212	26
Bilibin	780	17
Chaoun	1040	22
Shmidt	1632	35

Presently the biggest and most stable manufacturers of gold are Artel Starateley “Chukotka” Ltd., Polyarnaya Company, A/S Shahter Ltd, and A/S Arktika Ltd., all of which have been engaged in this business since 1960s.

Table 2. Dynamics of gold-mining by the main authorized companies

License-Holders	Mining in 2004 (kg)	Mining in 2005 (kg)
A/S Chukotka Ltd	1417	1637
A/S Polyarnaya Company	1020	986
A/S Shahter	414	457
A/S Arktika	188	181
Severnoe Zoloto CJSC	231	356
A/S Mir	234	167
A/S Luch Ltd	97	107
Liga Ltd	106	103
Kristall Ltd	147	132
A/S Polyarnaya Zvezda CJSC	135	188
ZDK Kupol Ltd	155	178

Rarely do companies not mentioned above extract more than 20 kg; 5 licensed companies have not done any mining.

Simple analysis shows that big cartels having experience in working in the North for more than a decade, good specialists and technical equipment are most stable ones in this business.

Estimates of possible extraction of lode gold for 2010-2015 is based on estimates of resources of explored deposits, approved by the State Committee on Rosnedr Mineral Resources. Provided that the annual volume becomes steady at the level of 3-5 tons, it may be estimated that by 2010 the total volume of extraction in the Okrug will have reached 15-20 tons.

Two big deposits, “Kupol” and “Maiskoe”, are major deposits for industrial exploration. The start of gold-mining factories is planned for 2007-2009. Yearly gold-mining is expected to be:

1.15 tons (from 2007) at the Kupol deposit
2.6 tons (from 2009) at the Maiskoe deposit

At the Karalveem deposit, the new holder of the license (Rudnik Karalveem Ltd.) is presently planning to resume gold-mining operations (approx. 2-3- tons per year) and to begin geological exploration at the locations having good prospects of increasing gold reserves. No increase in gold-mining is expected at other deposits because of low levels of explored resources and the capacity of enriching factories.