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Second Belarusian potash mining company extracts first salt

Photos courtesy of IOOO Slavkaliy

MINSK, 20 April (BelTA) – The Nezhinsky mining and processing factory has extracted its first salt, the press service of IOOO Slavkaliy, the company in charge of building and operating the mining and processing factory, told BelTA.

Slavkaliy continues active mine construction work at the Nezhinsky mining and processing factory. The shaft boring roadheaders (SBR machines) Ulyana and Olga are now 567m below the surface and have encountered the first stratum of rock salt.

The SBR machines were made in Germany to Slavkaliy’s orders. The technology is unparalleled in Europe. It replaces manual labor in a mine, does not require explosives, and is highly effective and environmentally friendly.

In July 2019 when the SBR machine Ulyana (the cage shaft) and the SBR machine Olga (the skip shaft) went past water-bearing formations to reach 327m below the surface, construction workers installed a tubbing column and did contact grouting work. In January 2020 work to ensure the secure lining of the mine shafts was finished and the SBR machines resumed work.

The Nezhinsky mining and processing factory based on the Starobinskoye potash salts deposit will be the second enterprise in Belarus to mine potash salts and make potash fertilizers. It will be able to make up to 2 million tonnes of potassium chloride per annum. The investment project provides for building one mining facility in addition to a processing plant, a gas turbine power plant for proprietary needs, railway infrastructure, automobile roads, housing infrastructure, and other kinds of infrastructure. The construction of the Nezhinsky mining and processing factory began in 2017. IOOO Slavkaliy is in charge of implementing the project. The company is part of Mikhail Gutseriyev’s SAFMAR Group.

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