The first mining company (PGRK, a division of the Rosatom holding) will not build a floating version of the mining and processing plant for the silver-bearing lead-zinc Pavlovskoye deposit on Novaya Zemlya. This is reported by Vedomosti with reference to the representative of the company Natalia Potapova.
According to her, the reason for the company’s abandonment of the original project, according to which the plant was supposed to appear on a barge or non-self-propelled vessel, was the sanctions. Now a new concept of the GOK is being developed: it will be built on the shore.
The project depended on the partners of the PGRK from Finland – Metso Outotec (supply of equipment for the plant), Aker Arctic (barge design), Wartsila (creation of a power plant for the mining and processing plant). They, according to a source familiar with the details of the project, Vedomosti, refused to cooperate with Rosatom.
The Ministry of Natural Resources told the newspaper that work on the construction of the mining and processing plant will begin this year, although they had previously planned to start as early as last May.
“The start of construction was delayed due to the need for additional design work: a redesign is underway in terms of replacing equipment so as not to face certain sanctions problems, since it was previously planned to use equipment mainly from European manufacturers,” the agency explained. At the same time, the deadlines for completing the work were not postponed.
Rosatom also had problems with the Finnish side on other projects. Another structure of the holding, Atomenergoprom, through international arbitration, demanded early repayment of a loan in the amount of €920.5 million issued to Fennovoima, the customer for the construction of the Hanhikivi-1 nuclear power plant in northern Finland. She terminated the contract with Rosatom last year.
In addition, Rosatom demanded compensation for the value of its Fennovoima shares in connection with the termination of the shareholder agreement. The total amount of claims pending in international arbitrations is 3 billion euros.
Source: Rosbalt
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