Polyus to lauch Sukhoi Log

The year of 2024 has been a momentous one for the gold, during the year gold first consolidated its breakthrough of the physcological barrier of $2000 per oz to then traverse the $2,500 mark with analysts now predicting the gold price in 2025 to exceed $3000 due to concerns regarding the situation with the global economies and the fact that gold is seen as a safe have in times of economice turmoil and strife.
Its worth noting that since time began only 220 thousand tons of gold have ever been mined and every since one of those tons still exists today as gold is indestructable, you can melt it,smelt it but you cannot destroy it.

Now some of you who have folowed my videos know that I have a indepth knowledge of commodities in Russia particularly gold so today I want to talk about a major multi billion dollar Gold project that is taking place in Russia and its located in an area of Russia that is very remote and has some of the harshest climates imaginable for working in. I would also like to point out that the Gold Mining sector in Russia is devoid of any Global Companies or Multi nationals and all companies active in gold mining in Russia are 100% Russian owned. Its also worth noting that Russia in 2025 will over take China in being the worlds largest gold producer with production of over 400 tons of annual production and between them China and Russia will produce around 25% of the worlds gold output.    
I this video I want to talk about one company and one project that is the largest gold mining project taking place in the wworld tofday and its by the Russian Gold Miner Polyus
The implementation of the gold mining project of Sukhoi Log in the Irkutsk Region will enable Polyus to become one of the three largest gold producers. The company plans to invest over $6 billion in the Irkutsk Sukhoi Log project. Including the two additional projects, the largest Russian gold miner will have invested approximately $7.6 billion by 2030.
But lets be honest with the gold price going North and the US dollar going south its not exactly a risky investment. Borroowing usless paper to produce real gold, its a no brainer.
Polyus has announced a capital investment of $6 billion in the Sukhoi Log project. Approximately $1.56 billion of the total investment will be allocated to the construction of a new gold extraction plant, as well as the purchase of materials and equipment.
The plant basically crushes the ore or rock, it is then put through various machines that extract the small amounts of gold from all the rest of the elements.

The plant will have a capacity of 34 million tons of ore, with an estimated production of 2.3-2.8 million ounces of gold. A further $1.08 billion will be invested in the creation and modernisation of infrastructure, including the expansion of the Taksimo logistics complex, roads, warehouses, power lines, water treatment systems, and so forth. The quarry and the tailings storage facility will require almost $1 billion.
The latter includes the construction of a dam, a pulp pipeline and a water drainage system, a drainage station, and so forth. Furthermore, the company is allocating approximately $900 million to provide comprehensive support for the project at all stages, including design, procurement, construction and pre-operational testing.
The source of these investments was not revealed by Polyus management. At a briefing for investors on 10 December, Polyus Vice President for Economics, Finance and Strategy Petr Prokuda revealed that the company is currently exploring a range of project financing options with varying equity and borrowed fund ratios.
However those with a knowledge of the gold sector in Russia are well aware that the Quasi State Bank VTB plus the national Savings Bank Sberbank's Investment division are very active in the gold sector. Given the current gold price and Poylus's all in sustaining cost  of around $700  per oz and the obviously huge profitablity of the project raising the needed capital is not going to be a problem

The development of Sukhoi Log will enable the company to almost double its gold production, reaching a peak of 5 million ounces per year. This will establish Polyus as a leading global producer of gold.It will be number three and unlike the others it only operates in Russia, also its shares are no longer listed internationally just in Russia.

The Sukhoi Log deposit which is in the Bodaibo district of the Irkutsk region is regarded as one of the largest undeveloped deposits in the world. The current data indicates that the reserves amount to 43.5 million ounces or 1,233 tons of gold.

The Sukhoi Log deposit was discovered by geologists in 1961, but work did not begin there for some time due to the lack of necessary infrastructure. You have to understand it is located in the @rse end of nowhere
It is possible that there were other factors involved. In total, several dozen technological samples of ore were examined by Soviet and Russian specialized institutes, resulting in the issuance of over 25 research reports and several feasibility studies.
Viktor Glushko, Managing Director of Polyus Project, has stated that the current feasibility study for the Sukhoi Log project differs from the preliminary study, which was compiled in 2021.

The data presented in the presentation indicates that the Sukhoi Log deposit reserves, calculated in accordance with the JORC code (Australasian Code for Geological Exploration), increased from 40 million ounces to 43.5 million ounces of gold as of the end of December last year.

However, there is more. The average gold content in the ore in the 2021 feasibility study was 2.3 grams per ton. In the updated study, the range is 2.3-2.8 g per ton for the first 10 years of operation, not counting the launch year. According to Polyus CEO Alexey Vostokov, this is a highly encouraging indicator, given that the global average for new deposits is 1.3 g per ton.
Yes that is 1.3 grams of gold for every ton of rock that is removed, its thanks to the latest technology that such tiny aamounts of gold can be recovered and in places with the most inhosptaible climates

Plus, the dates for the start of full  operations have been revised. The revised timeframe is now 2028–2029, compared to the previous version which stated 2027. We are pleased to announce that the pilot industrial operation of Sukhoi Log has already begun. Also we have already produced  the first ton of gold at the deposit in October. It should be noted that the precious metal was extracted from ore delivered to the neighbouring Verninskaya gold recovery plant.
Otherwise, the key project parameters have remained virtually unchanged. The plan is to construct one building and two production lines. However, there has been a shift in focus from Western equipment to the use domestic and friendly country equipment, including machinery coming  from countries with which we have strong trade relations like China which has great expertise in minerals extraction and processing being the Global leader in rare earth and other minerals.

Viktor Glushko has indicated that Sukhoi Log is set to implement the gravity-flotation enrichment system that was previously tested at the Verninskaya gold recovery plant. In practice, this has meant that the company has had to revise the set of equipment used in a number of cases, increasing its quantity in the new layout. Consequently, the number of gravity concentrators has been almost doubled. Furthermore, the decision was taken to replace the six excavators with 50 m³ buckets with nine excavators with 30 m³ buckets. Furthermore, modifications have been made to the dump truck fleet. The number of vehicles with a lifting capacity of 300 tons has been increased from 60 to up to 110 vehicles with a lifting capacity of 220 tons. "Overall," Viktor Glushko stated, "despite the necessity to modify the equipment utilized and the reduction in unit capacity in terms of nomenclature, we were able to maintain the total processing capacity at the originally planned level of 34 million tons."
In addition to Sukhoi Log, Polyus has plans to commission two more gold deposits by the end of the current decade. The remaining two deposits are Chertovo Korito and Chulbatkan. The first is situated in close proximity to the Verninsky GOK and has JORC-certified reserves of 3.1 million ounces, with a gold content of 1.5 g per ton. It is anticipated that production will average approximately 300,000 ounces per year. It is anticipated that capital expenditure will reach approximately $1 billion. The second is situated in the Khabarovsk Territory, with an estimated capital investment of between $600 million and $800 million. It is estimated that the probable gold reserves will amount to 3 million ounces with a gold content of 1.6 g per ton.

As it develops these deposits, including Sukhoi Log, Polyus can leverage regional tax incentives, particularly for income tax and mineral extraction tax, boosting the efficiency of its noble metal production. It is also important to note that in total, Polyus will require approximately $7.6 billion in funding to implement all of these projects.
In my opinion  "If  the company  maintains the production level at its existing assets, then the implementation of the newly announced projects could allow Polyus to double its gold production by 2030."

Should this occur, the company could well become one of the world's top three gold producers plus will be the most profiatble.