Press Releases

In late March and early April, Acron Vice President for Mining and Chemical Production Development Sergey Fedorov once again visited Acron's subsidiary Verkhnekamsk Potash Company (VPC) in Perm Krai. VPC is developing the Talitsky area of the Verkhnekamsk potassium-magnesium salt deposit. In March, the Company named OJSC Belgorhimprom (Minsk, Republic of Belarus) as general contractor for construction of the factory and hired FGUP US-30 (Mezhgorye, Republic of Bashkortostan) to design and drill two mine shafts. On March 31, VPC held a joint meeting for the project team to organize and coordinate work with OJSC Gallurgiya (Perm), which developed the initial conditions, a conditions feasibility study and specifications for the project. It was an opportunity for contractors to meet each other and define priorities, terms and contracts. The parties assigned Belgorhimprom to analyse the initial conditions within one month and prepare requirements specifications for missing data that shall be acquired as soon as possible. FGUP US-30 undertook to develop a drifting project with implementation of ground-freezing technology within 6-7 months. The project will incorporate the results obtained from drilling control wellbores to speed up work. Wellbore No. 1 is currently 40 meters deep and wellbore No. 2 is 219 meters deep. There is also a 58.8-meter deep underwater borehole. After the approval of the state expert review board, miners will begin construction of mine shafts in 2012.
The same day, VPC held a meeting at OJSC Interregional Distribution Network Company of the Urals, a subdivision of Permenergo, and contracted the company to supply the site with electricity in the second quarter of 2012. The first project stage will require 12.7 MW, and the second and the third stages will reach the design capacity of 61.7 MW.
On April 1, Fedorov met with the mayor of Berezniki, Sergey Dyakov. They discussed the future anniversary of the city’s founding. Fedorov promised Acron's help with festive events and informed the mayor about the current status at the site. At this stage, VPC is clearing the forest at the construction site, drilling control wellbores to obtain preliminary data, and surveying water sources for potable and technical water.
The project is being executed on schedule and in accordance with the license agreement. Project head Sergey Fedorov saw this in person during a visit to the future Talitsky MPC site, two kilometres away from the settlement of Zheleznodorozhny. The site is connected with the settlement by a temporary road used for supervision and preparation work. VPC decided to upgrade the existing road to a technological road for delivery of construction equipment and transportation of personnel, followed by construction of a permanent road that will most likely lead directly to Berezniki.
Representatives of all the companies that take part in the project and participated in the meeting the previous day visited the MPC site along with Fedorov. They had the opportunity to see drilling of control wellbores performed by LLC Genesis-Perm, forest clearing conducted by LLC Silva and learn about prospecting of hydrogeological boreholes executed by OJSC ZapUralGidgogeologiya. All the visitors expressed confidence that the work is going as planned.