Commissioned in December 2011, the Verninskoye mine is located in the historical Bodaybo gold mining area. It is a conventional shovel-and-truck open-pit operation.

The mill expansion project, which was launched in the December 2019 quarter, has been completed ahead of its initial schedule which was for the second half of 2021. The mill has now achieved its target hourly throughput rate of 450t/h and is currently running at an annualised capacity of 3.5Mt.

Polyus said this upgrade is expected to provide additional 40,000oz of incremental gold volumes at Verninskoye. Capital expenditures for the project amounted to approximately US$60 million, in line with the initial budget.

Polyus has completed several initiatives to upgrade the crushing and grinding circuit at Verninskoye. These include the installation of an additional crushing circuit comprising of a ball mill and two vibrating screens in the extension of the main building. An additional cone crusher and screens were installed to reduce recirculation and increase the throughput capacity of the existing semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill. The gravity concentration circuit was equipped with additional centrifugal concentrators and a hydrocyclone unit, which were also installed in the main building extension.

As part of the mill expansion project, Polyus implemented a number of initiatives aimed at improving recoveries, including the installation of an additional reactivation kiln in the main building extension, as well as the installation of an additional centrifugal concentrator in the main building. The company said this resulted in the recovery rate at Verninskoye reaching approximately 90% in February 2021.