On August 12-13, Sergei Fedorov, Acron’s Vice President for Mining and Chemical Production Development, paid a working visit to Perm Krai, where Acron’s subsidiary Verkhnekamsk Potash Company LLC is developing a new potash source at the Talitsky area of the Verkhnekamsk potash deposit. Fedorov’s visit was heavily scheduled with negotiations and meetings. VPC is a new mineral developer in a region where relationships already exist between companies and the local administration. Because of this, it is very important for VPC to cultivate its own relationships and make its presence in the region welcome.
During the visit, Fedorov met with head of the Berezniki administration Sergey Dyakov and head of the Usolye municipal district Gennady Shekhmatov. Fedorov informed the municipal leaders about progress on the Talitsky area development project and plans to commission the new facilities in three stages. The first stage envisages the production of 1 mn tonnes of potassium chloride, which will increase to 1.5 mn tonnes by the second stage and 2 mn tonnes by the third stage. Local officials are primarily interested in the construction deadlines, because they directly affect tax revenues and the creation of at least 2,500 jobs. The fact that the public hearings approved amendments to the Berezniki Land Use and Development Rules has become a significant advantage for the project’s implementation.
On the first day, Acron’s Fedorov held negotiations with Valery Marakov, Deputy Director General and Director of the Berezniki branch of JSC Galurgia, as well as a working meeting with experts from VPC’s Berezniki division, which was followed by a familiarisation visit to the site of the future Talitsky Mining and Processing Complex.
Fedorov met with experts from VPC’s Perm branch and the management of JSC Galurgia research institute on the second day. The institute is working on a number of projects involving analysis of the solutions required to commence designing the mine and the processing plant at the Talitsky area. When summarising the results of the work performed, it was noted that JSC Galurgia developed the “Basic Technical Solutions of Talitsky Mining and Processing Complex Construction” on time and in full and is developing a project for drilling check boreholes in accordance with the time schedule. This will allow the project to proceed to the next stage, entering into agreements on the general design and designer supervision, on the development of benchmark data for processing technology and finished product output, as well as on the design of the access road. The development of the feasibility study and the implementation of requests for electricity, natural gas and railway service under the technical conditions are still ahead. An extremely important stage of the work is about to start. The results of this work will define the level of the future Mining and Processing Complex and its ability to become one of the world’s best potash enterprises.