Kirovsk Branch of Apatit

Operations

Kirovsk Branch of Apatit is a 90-year old mining and processing plant.

It was incorporated in 1929 as Trust Apatit to mine the unique apatite-nepheline ore from the Khibiny deposit. This is one of the world’s biggest and richest deposits and the main source of phosphate rock in Russia, unique in terms of environmental friendliness and safety.

With more than two billion tonnes of ore produced and processed since the facility’s foundation, Kirovsk Branch has churned out more than 700 mt and 72 mt of apatite and nepheline concentrate, respectively.

Khibiny Branch of Apatit is PhosAgro’s flagship producer supplying eco-friendly apatite concentrate to the Company’s facilities across the country so that they could put out fertilizers for our clients in Russia and over 100  foreign countries.

Currently, Kirovsk Branch of Apatit is the world’s leading producer of high-grade (P₂O₅ content of at least 37.5%) phosphate rock and Russia’s only producer of nepheline concentrate.

It develops six Khibiny deposits: Kukisvumchorr, Yukspor, Apatitovy Cirque, Rasvumchorr Plateau, Koashva and Njorkpahk.

Some 10.1  mt of apatite concentrate and 986  kt of nepheline concentrate were produced at the company’s beneficiation plants in 2018.

Investment program

The key focus areas of Apatit’s Kirovsk Branch investment programme are developing its resource base, processing capacities and production infrastructure facilities and ensuring industrial and environmental safety. The company is actively running a digitalisation programme. For example, a modern transport operations control centre for support service vehicles was rolled out jointly with Samoilov Scientific Research Institute for Fertilizers and Insectofungicides. Total investment in the development of mining and processing capacities for the last five years exceeded RUB 53 billion.

Upstream

2017

To increase the supply of fresh air to the lower horizons of underground mines, in 2017 we launched main ventilation fans in the western service shaft of Kirovsky Mine and the VS-1 and VS-2 shafts of Rasvumchorrsky Mine. The air supplied to the mine is heated using gas-powered heating units.

Investment in the project stands at RUB 1.5 billion.

2015

The main shaft No. 2 (GS-2) equipped with two skips (self-unloaders) with a capacity of 45 t was put into operation after an overhaul at the Kirovsk mine in August 2015. From the engineering perspective, it is a highly complex underground crusher and above-ground mining facility designed to deliver ore from the underground facility to the surface from a depth of about 350 m. The launch of GS-2 enabled us to replace retired capacities and boost the mine’s production from 14 to 22 mtpa.

Total investment in the project exceeded RUB 12 billion.

Upstream

In August 2018, Kirovsky Mine saw the launch of a project (the first of its kind in Russia) to introduce remote underground drilling in deep wells. Currently, one operator manages six drilling rigs, with their number set to increase to ten going forward. The plan is to manage underground drilling at both Kirovsky and Rasvumchorrsky Mines using a single operator dashboard. Apart from enhancing occupational safety during the underground works, transition to remote drilling will bring about a 20% improvement in the efficiency of drilling rigs thanks to shorter downtime between the shifts.

The project’s target investment will be over RUB 90 million.

The facility introduces cyclical and continuous technology for crushing, transportation and dumping of overburden. The target production capacity of the facility is 5,500 tph, or 30 mtpa of rock. Three conveyor belts with a total length of about 5 km will replace a fleet of dump trucks cutting overburden transportation costs by 15%.
Investment in the project exceeds RUB 5 billion.

To increase Kirovsky Mine’s production volumes to 22 mtpa in 2024 (up from 20 mtpa in 2018), PhosAgro plans to launch a crushing and delivery unit and an additional ore drawing capacity at the Kukisvumchorrskoye deposit in 2021. The Company also plans to commission a crushing and delivery unit and an additional ore drawing capacity at the Yuksporskoye deposit in 2022, with the total volumes of reserves to be involved in processing amounting to ca. 300 mt.
According to the rough estimates, investments in the project in the period up to 2035 will amount to RUB 19 billion.

Apatite-nepheline beneficiation plant No. 2 (ANBP-2)

In 2017–2018, the phosphate rock production unit at ANBP-2 saw a technical upgrade, which helped bring production costs for high-grade apatite concentrate down by 10% and increase recovery rates for low-grade ores by 1%. Investment in the ANBP-2 upgrade project exceeded RUB 3 billion.

Apatite-nepheline beneficiation plant No. 3 (ANBP-3)

In 2013–2018, ANBP-3 was upgraded, with its production capacity increasing from 4.5 mtpa to 9 mtpa of apatite concentrate. The upgrade also involved the creation of a greenfield nepheline concentrate production facility with an annual capacity of up to 1.3 mt.

The project helped improve the ore processing efficiency (with the recovery rate increasing from 90.5% to 91.5–92%) and reduce the production costs for high-grade apatite concentrate by 10%.
Investment in the ANBP-3 upgrade project exceeded RUB 10 billion.

Upstream

Kirovsk mine

To extract 22 mt of ore by 2020, the Company plans to retrofit the GS-1 shaft (ore output at GS-1 will be 3 mtpa).

Target investment in the project will be over RUB 90 million.

To provide underground mining operations with proper ventilation, the facility’s development programme up to 2023 specifies the construction of two air heating and ventilation units with a total capacity of 1,300 cu m/s.

Investment in the project will total RUB 1.2 billion.

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