Russian Copper Company, Moscow, Russia:

I. A. Altushkin, Chairman of the Board
M. Yu. Shchibrik, Vice-President of Finance
T. I. Malek, Vice-President of Economics
Yu. A. Korol, Vice-President of Production and Investment, u.korol@mail.ru

For many centuries, the Urals have been the place for exploring, mining and processing of copper ores. During these years, miners and metallurgists came across various types of ores, and the possibility of their use depended on the level of development of technology, equipment and basic sciences. The shift from oxidized ore to cupriferous sandstone, pyrites and, later on, to porphyritic deposits was explained by elaboration and implementation of innovation approaches to development of deposits at each subsequent stage of advancement in mining and metallurgical science. Depletion of sulphide ores in the Urals this time calls for development of newly discovered and explored copper–porphyry deposits. The distinctive feature of such ores is low content of commercial minerals and byproducts, high hardness and low contrast. Therefore, the application of mining and processing flow sheets and equipment conventional in the Urals is economically inadvisable. Russian Copper Company with the purpose of the sustainable growth in case of the lack of primary copper raw materials has focused efforts on exploring, mining and processing of copper-porphyry deposits in the Urals. The application of innovation technologies, equipment and new approaches to management of mine design, construction and operation has made it possible to successfully develop Mikheevsky deposit of porphyry ores. Within a short period Russian Copper Company has built the most ambitious enterprise in the field of non-ferrous metallurgy in Russia and has achieved all design parameters. The opportunity of efficient mining and processing of porphyry ores has increased the raw materials supplies of the copper sector in the Urals.

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