Petropavlovsk plc

Petropavlovsk plc

Type	Public (LSE: POG)
Industry	Gold mining
Founded	1994
Headquarters	Listed in London, England. Operates in Russia
Key people	Mr Peter Hambro (Chairman of the board) Senator Pavel Maslovskiy (Honorary President) Mr Sergey Ermolenko (CEO) Mr Martin Smith (Deputy CEO)
Products	Gold
Revenue	US $1,375.2 million (2012)[1]
Operating income	US $227.0 million (2012)[1]
Profit	US $243.9 million (2012)[1]
Subsidiaries	IRC Limited
Website	www. petropavlovsk.net

Petropavlovsk plc (LSE: POG) (formerly Peter Hambro Mining plc) is a London-based gold mining company with operations in Russia. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

History

The Group was founded by Peter Hambro and Pavel Maslovskiy in 1994 as an Anglo-Russian venture to develop a highly-prospective, under-developed gold project in the Amur region, Russian Far East. Since then, Petropavlovsk has grown from strength-to-strength and is now a major, multi-mine, Russian gold producer.^[2]

In 2002, the Company was first listed on the Alternative Investment Market.^[2] Peter Hambro Mining fully acquired Aricom, a business formed by Peter Hambro and Pavel Maslovskiy and operating in the Amur Region, in April 2009.^[3] It was also first fully listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 2009.^[2]

In September 2009, the company changed its name from Peter Hambro Mining plc to Petropavlovsk plc, retaining the POG stock exchange code, in order to reinforce its Russian focus.^[4]

In October 2010, the company floated its non-precious metals division (the assets previously held by Aricom plc) on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong as IRC Ltd (Stock Exchange Code: HK1029).^[5]

Operations

Mines

The Group’s principal assets are four hard-rock gold mines in the Amur region, Russian Far East. All four mines are open pit and gold is processed on-site utilising conventional resin-in-pulp (“RIP”) processing plants and/or heap-leaching operations. Acquired as either greenfield or early-stage exploration sites, the mines were developed and commissioned in-house by the Group, utilising its specialist exploration, engineering and construction teams and its research and development centres and laboratories. As the group’s mining assets are all located in Russia, the group’s operations are run in accordance with Russian environmental, labour and health and safety laws. As a consequence, the group has a good environmental management and safety track record compared to some of its peers in the mining sector. In order to provide greater transparency to its international shareholders and stakeholders, the Group in recent years has sought to align its policies and procedures with international best practice.^[6]

Pioneer

Producing 314,850oz of gold in 2013,^[7] Pioneer is the Group’s largest mine and one of the largest gold mines in the Russian Far East. The Group acquired a licence to explore, develop and mine the Pioneer deposit in 2001. The mine was commissioned in April 2008 with the installation of a 0.7Mtpa milling line. Since then, the plant has undergone further expansion to reach the current capacity of 6.6Mtpa. The mine still remains highly prospective as new licence areas surrounding the original mine site are still being explored.^[8]

Pokrovskiy

Pokrovskiy is an open-pit gold mine located in the western part of the Amur region, approximately 10 km from the nearest station on the Trans-Siberian railway and 35 km from Pioneer. Producing 91,200oz in 2013,^[7] it is one of the largest producing gold mines in the Amur region in terms of annual production. The Group acquired the licence to explore, develop and mine the Pokrovskiy deposit in 1994, when it was still at a very early stage of development. The mine became operational five years later in 1999 when heap-leaching facilities were added. The RIP processing plant was commissioned in 2002 and subsequently expanded to its current capacity of 1.7Mtpa in 2004. To date, the Pokrovskiy mine has produced over 1.6Moz of gold. The mine will be the site of the Group’s pressure oxidation (“POX”) processing hub, which is planned for commissioning in 2019.

Malomir

Malomir is the Group’s first large-scale mine located in the north-east of the Amur region. Acquired in 2003 as a greenfield site, Malomir was commissioned on target in 2010 and the plant was expanded in July 2010, despite the project’s remote location in the north-east Amur region. Malomir produced 115,500oz of gold in 2013.^[7]

Albyn

The Albyn licence area was acquired in 2005 as a greenfield site and was commissioned on target in November 2011.^[9] In 2013, the mine produced 134,800oz of gold.^[7] Albyn remains one of the Group’s most prospective projects, with exploration continuing to yield positive results.^[10]

Exploration, reserves and resources

As at 1 January 2013, the Group had 25.1Moz of Mineral Resources, of which 10.0Moz were Proven and Probable Reserves (in accordance with the JORC Code (2004)), which were mainly calculated using a gold price of US$1,000/oz.^[11]

Sustainability

Community Engagement

The Group is committed to promoting the social and economic development of the Amur region and improving the quality of life of the local community. The Group remains one of the largest employers and tax payers in the Amur region. It’s investment in education and training provides further job opportunities and helps to stimulate the local economy. The Group uses local enterprises as suppliers wherever practically and economically possible.^[12][13]

During 2010, the Group worked in collaboration with local authorities to launch the Petropavlovsk Foundation for Social Investment (“the Foundation”) to centralise the Group’s existing charitable work into one investment vehicle. Since its launch, the Foundation has donated more than 173 million roubles to local causes.^[14]

The Group is committed to ensuring that local communities are actively involved in its development plans through public consultations.^[13][15]

Environmental Management

In line with Russian legislation, the Group holds: licences and related permits to mine natural resources; licences and related permits to conduct exploration activities; permits relating to the construction of processing plants, roads and other mine infrastructure; certificates of environmental safety in hazardous waste management, including licences for the handling of Class I-IV hazardous waste; permits for regulating the discharges and emissions into the atmosphere, water or soil and certificates of accreditation for the Group’s laboratories.

In addition to these regulations, the Group conducts environmental impact assessments ahead of the commissioning of new mines (OVOS: Оценка воздействия на окружающую среду). With regards to the environment, the report evaluates the current state of, and estimated impact of, the planned mining activities on groundwater, rivers and streams, mineral resources, land, soil, air and plant and animal life in the area. Public consultations also undertaken as part of the process.^[13]

Employees

Almost all the Group’s employees are Russian nationals, including Executive Directors and senior management. Many are local to the Amur region, in line with the Group’s commitment to employ local people.^[16]

In 2007, the Group established a training college close to the Pokrovskiy mine. The College is certified to offer training in more than 40 mining professions.^[17]

References