The resumption of mining and processing of tungsten and molybdenum ores at the Tyrnyauz deposit will be expensive – according to current estimates, it will cost more than 40 billion rubles. Therefore, when working with an investor, we decided to use an agreement on the protection and promotion of capital investments (SZPK) – this is an agreement between the investor and the authorities, according to which the company invests money in the project and the The state undertakes not to apply laws against it that may negatively affect the execution of the investment project. For example, if tax rates increase in a country, the law will not apply to an agreement that has already been made.
– The minimum investment threshold when concluding a SZPK does not exceed 200 million rubles. This will make it possible to sign such agreements at the level of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation and to stabilize regional legislation. If the amount exceeds 750 million rubles, then we are talking about federal regulations related to taxes, conditions of land use, urban development, – said Murat Kerefov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.
Tungsten deposits are mainly developed in the Far East, where tungsten concentrate is produced and exported.
He stressed that not only investors, but also regions are interested in NWPC, since the projects are carried out exclusively with private funds. Another advantage of the SZPK is the compensation of infrastructure costs, which allows for a faster profit. Likewise, this mechanism allows the reimbursement of expenses for the payment of interest on loans and borrowings.
On the basis of the Tyrnyauz tungsten-molybdenum deposit, it is planned to restore an underground mine and build a processing plant with a capacity of 1.5 million tons of ore per year. The current budget of the project is 55.7 billion rubles, of which 46 billion correspond to the cost of construction and commissioning of production facilities that are supposed to be located on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria.
As Yury Lopatin, deputy director of sales and marketing at the Kirovgrad Hard Alloy Plant (KZTS), told the RG correspondent, tungsten-based products are widely used. Hard alloys are used in mechanical engineering, mining, the defense industry, and other areas.
– For example, our plant produces ready-made tools for cutting metals and rocks, cutting carbide inserts for equipping turning tools and milling cutters, carbide inserts for reinforcing drilling tools – drill bits and drill bits. Special cutters made by KZTS are equipped with combines for the extraction of coal and salt. Plates and inserts containing tungsten have high hardness, close to diamond, and high abrasion resistance, Lopatin said.
At the Kirovgrad plant, not only finished tools are produced, but also carbide products, which are sent to other companies, where they are used to manufacture final products. The production of sintered hard alloys is based on the technological principles of powder metallurgy used to create a refractory tungsten metal with a binder metal – cobalt. In addition to tungsten hard alloys, ferrotungsten is also used in production, it is necessary for the manufacture of special steels with different properties.
According to Lopatin, Russia has a sufficient resource base to increase production. There is no shortage of tungsten now, but when the deposit begins to develop, the consumer supply will roughly double.
– It is necessary to develop the field, because the achievement of technological sovereignty is a fundamental task, the solution of which will allow us to successfully develop the national industry, – emphasized the representative of the plant.
According to Georgy Samodurov, President of the Stankoinstrument Association, Honored Mechanical Engineer of the Russian Federation, Russia’s dependence on imported hard alloys in machine tool construction and tool production reaches 90 percent. Therefore, the reactivation of the Tyrnyauz field is a strategically important task for the country.
Now, tungsten deposits are developed mainly in the Far East, where raw materials are produced and tungsten concentrate is exported. Via China and Korea, it will probably end up in Japan as there is a lot of demand.
In addition to tools, tungsten-containing alloys are used to produce surgical instruments, tank armor, shells for torpedoes and shells, aircraft and engine parts, and containers for storing radioactive substances. Such alloys can be given the necessary parameters: a certain resistance to various temperatures, corrosion, acid, abrasion, etc.
Previously, a large amount of tungsten went into the production of wire, which was used in the manufacture of incandescent lamps. Now the trends have changed – tungsten filaments are no longer in such demand, because these lamps are gradually becoming obsolete. .
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The Tyrnyauz mining and processing plant went bankrupt in the early 2000s, and for more than 20 years it was closed: the mines, the mines, and the plant itself were suspended. However, the realities have changed and now Russia needs to increase its tungsten production. In 2016, Tyrnyauz reassessed the deposits and began to restart production.
Industrial capacities are supposed to be deployed at two investment sites: a production facility will appear in Tyrnyauz, where they will be engaged in mining and ore enrichment, and a hydrometallurgical enterprise will be opened in Nevinnomyssk (the territory of the neighboring Stavropol Territory ). The underground mine will be restored and the associated infrastructure will be built. Parallel to the construction, the mining plant is being provided with energy resources and road infrastructure.
