The Eastern Economic Forum provided the setting for the launch of a strategic industrial project in Russia’s Transbaikal Territory. President Vladimir Putin officially launched the hydrometallurgical plant operated by Udokan Copper, marking the first time in the project’s history that it has produced refined copper. The operation will now supply not only feedstock for smelting but also finished copper cathode.
Reaching this stage has taken several years. The project’s processing plant was commissioned first, also during the Eastern Economic Forum, three years ago. Since early 2024, the complex has been consistently shipping copper concentrate to both domestic and international customers. Total ore processed to date has already exceeded 700,000 tonnes.
The new plant fundamentally changes the status of the project. Udokan Copper’s patented flotation-hydrometallurgical technology makes it possible to recover copper from ore that was previously considered difficult to process. The system can handle sulfide, oxide, and transitional ore types with similar efficiency—a relatively rare capability in the global mining industry.
The first stage is designed to produce a combined 150,000 tonnes of copper per year in the form of concentrate and cathode metal. Design work for the second stage is already underway, and once completed, total production capacity is expected to reach 550,000 tonnes annually. At that level, the operation would rank among the world’s five largest copper producers.
The environmental component is also part of the project. To offset its carbon footprint at the time of commissioning, the company purchased 1,000 carbon units, allowing the launch to be described as carbon-neutral.
Financing was provided by major Russian development institutions and commercial banks, including VEB.RF, Gazprombank, and Sberbank, which participated in a syndicate under the Project Finance Factory program. The federal government and the administration of the Transbaikal Territory also provided institutional support.
Udokan is no longer simply a giant copper deposit with enormous reserves. It has evolved into a fully integrated metallurgical cluster producing refined metal, with ambitions to become one of the leading players in the global copper industry.
Source: @dprom
Image: Udokan Copper
