A raft of digital innovations, including remote-controlled drills and other automation, boosted production at PJSC Polyus' flagship Olimpiada mine 36% year over year, the Financial Times reported Dec. 12, citing company management.
In the third quarter, production at Olimpiada grew to 344,800 ounces of gold, compared with 253,300 ounces in the same period of 2016. The increase in productivity is largely thanks to digital solutions that have been implemented over the past decade.
"Operations that used to involve manual labor are now done with machines," said Evgeniy Kochupovsky, the mine's automation chief. The Olimpiada mine makes extensive use of digital technology, using one system to unite and coordinate 210 pieces of mining kit, Kochupovsky told the Financial Times.
Russia's leading gold miner also plans to expand its use of automated technology at its mine sites to boost productivity over the coming years.
"We see through automation and various IT solutions that there is big room for improvement," CEO Pavel Grachev said. The executive added that although automation means fewer employees, the company will not be implementing mass layoffs.
The company's push to modernize its systems also extends to the gold purification process. Polyus uses a special bacterium to help purify its gold, which has helped boost productivity at the company's assets by between 30% and 50% over the last ten years, according to Roman Ashirov, the head of Polyus' research center.
Polyus' overall output for the third quarter climbed 16% year over year to 642,000 ounces, while net profit retreated 5% to US$371 million due to financial costs and the impact of a gain in derivatives.
The Russian gold miner has six operating projects in Siberia and won the rights to develop Russia's largest untapped gold deposit, Sukhoi Log, in early 2017.
