Polymetal operates gold and silver mines in three Russian regions: Dukat and Lunnoye (including the Arylakh satellite deposit) in the Magadan Region, Khakanja (including the Yurievskoye satellite deposit) in the Khabarovsk Territory, and Voro in the Sverdlovsk Region.

Dukat and Lunnoye

Dukat and Lunnoye are located in the northeast of Russia in the Omsukchan district of the Magadan Region, 650 km from Magadan and 40–150 km from the town of Omsukchan.
Dukat and Lunnoye share many support functions and are managed as a single operating unit.
Dukat is the third-largest primary silver deposit in the world in terms of reserves.
Capex in 2008: $26.5 million.

In 2008, Dukat was mined through a combination of open pit and underground mining. The total production volume was 1,017 Kt, a 4.7% increase over 2007, with open pit and underground contributing 403 Kt and 614 Kt respectively. The volume of underground development grew by 16% compared to 2007, reaching 12,305 m.

The total production volume of precious metals at Dukat increased in 2008, with gold production up 21.7% to 30.9 Koz (2007: 25 Koz), and silver production up 15.6% to 12.5 Moz (2007: 10.8 Moz). This increase was achieved as a result of additional production capacity being brought on-line as part of the expansion of the Dukat processing plant’s throughput to 1.5 Mt. Upon completion, this project will add 6.0 Moz of silver to current production levels and increase the recovery rate by 2.5–3%.

Khakanja

Khakanja is located in the Khabarovsk Territory, 1,100 km north of Khabarovsk and 480 km west of Magadan. The Yurievskoye satellite deposit, 60 km of Khakanja, was commissioned in 2008. The Company plans to develop Yuriesvkoye over the next three years using open pit mining and the ore will be processed at the Khakanja processing plant.
Capex in 2008: $6.9 million.

In 2008, the total volume mined at Khakanja dropped 17% to 601 Kt of ore, including 61 Kt of ore mined at Yurievskoye (a Khakanja satellite deposit with higher gold and lower silver grades).

Ore processing in 2008 dropped 1% to 602 Kt (including 26 Kt processed from Yurievskoye). The recovery rate for gold remained the same as in 2007, while the silver recovery rate grew by 6.2%. Despite a reduction in grade, this was achieved in large part through the optimization of the process flow at the processing plant. Other factors that led to the increase in the silver recovery rate included improvements to the reagent mixture, work on the filter area, and the inclusion of ore from Yurievskoye.

Gold production increased to 109 Koz, a 30.8% increase over 83 Koz in 2007. Silver production dropped to 1.3 Moz, a decrease of 25.7% (2007: 1.7 Koz). The growth in gold production was the result of a 28.5% increase in the gold grade to 5.8 g/t (2007: 4.5 g/t). The lower grade of ore mined at Yurievskoye led to a 33.9% reduction in the silver grade and a subsequent decrease in silver production.

Voro

Voro is located 450 km north of Ekaterinburg and 20 km south of the city of Krasnoturinsk in the Sverdlovsk Region. Two types of ore are mined at Voro: sulfide and oxide. The renovation and modernization of the carbon-in-pulp plant (CIP), for processing sulfide ore, is expected to increase its throughput to 900–950 Ktpa of ore.
Capex in 2008: $16.7 million.

In 2008, the volume of ore mined at Voro was 582 Kt, of which 193 Kt vas oxidized ore and 389 Kt vas sulfide ore. Compared to 2007, volumes of oxidized and sulfide ore mined dropped 12% and 39%, respectively. This is due to the emphasis being placed on processing ore from the stockpile and the focus on stripping. Virtually all of the oxidized ore reserves have been removed from the active open pit. Sulfide ore reserves have been stripped and prepared for the increase in milling throughput.

The volume of processed ore at the CIP plant grew by 26%, with the heap leach achieving record processing volumes of 925 Kt.