Mukhamedzhan Turdukhanov
President, Sokolovsko-Sarbaisky Mine & Concentrator

    Sokolovsko-Sarbaisky Mining Production Association (SSMPA) is the largest iron ore mining enterprise in the CIS. The Enterprise was founded on 30 June 1954 on the basis of Sokolovskoye and Sarbaiskoye black iron ore deposits. SSMPA’s activity saw decays and rises. Today, the enterprise is actively increasing product outputs, improving quality and implementing new technologies.
Core products – fluxed iron pellets and iron ore concentrate. SSMPA supplies these high quality products to Ispat Karmet, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works, and to China.
Iron ore mining work is carried out in Sarbaisky, Sokolovsky, Kacharsky, Kurzhunkulsky Open-Casts and Sokolovsky Underground Mine. These open-casts are unique engineering facilities. Currently, their depth is: Sarbaisky Open-Cast – 430 m (target depth – 600 m), Sokolovsky Open-Cast – 450 m (target depth – 550 m), Kacharsky Open-Cast – 302 m (target depth – 750 m). The total volume of economic iron ore reserves of the deposits under development amounts to 3 434.6 million tons.
    Sokolovsky Underground Mine produces up to 3 million tons of ore p.a. It operates since 1976. The company completed the development of the first tier reserves to the lift – 190 m; put a lift into operation – 260 m; and finished the construction of a lift – 330 m, which will be put into operation in 2005. The reserves of the second tier facilities amount to 85 million tons of ore. The capacity of the mine in these lifts will increase to 4.5 million tons p.a.
Apart from iron ore, the company develops dolomite and lime deposits. Dolomite, uniform in its material and chemical structure, represents high-quality raw material for metallurgical enterprises. Lime is used as flux for pellets production and meets all necessary requirements.
Processing of crude ore and production of marketable iron ore concentrate and pellets is carried out by the company’s ore dressing division. The design capacity of the crushing-and-dressing plant is 31 million tons of ore p.a. The plant has coarse breaking and fine breaking facilities and a dry magnetic separation facility.
The design capacity of the wet magnetic separation plant for middling production is 22.5 million tons p.a., crude oil – 31 million tons p.a. The plant has wet magnetic separation facilities with 16 technological stations, cylinder drying machines 3.5�27 m, and a tailing facility.
A pelletizing factory with 12 burning plants can produce 8.4 million fluxed pellets p.a.
To ensure on-line control over the volumes and quality of the produced and processed products the Company implements a computerised Balance system and uses modern plants for X-ray spectrum analysis.
SSMPA is a power-consuming complex. The company’s annual need for power is 260�270 MWt. In 1998, SSMPA acquired a local thermal power station. At that time, its electric power was only 29 MWt. As a result of upgrading, this figure increased to 172 MWt, and after the reconstruction will amount to 204 MWt. Today, the station meets the industrial district’s energy demand by 65 %.
SSMPA carries out experimental research for creating new technologies with a view to improving the level of quality and decreasing production costs. The company develops new plants and materials for own production. Annually there appear up to 10 inventions; their estimated economic benefit amounts to 500 million tenges. The range of these inventions covers manufacturing of explosives and implementation of microprocessor technologies.
    The company implements new blasting technologies. Sarbaiskoye, Sokolovskoye and Kacharskoye deposits have difficult hydrogeological conditions. The volume of water inflows in this area amounts to 3500 m³ per day, and the drainage system cannot cope with all blast holes. Methods of waterflooded rock shooting and their draining, used by other mining enterprises, turned out inefficient. Therefore, the company’s specialists developed an original machine for blast holes draining. The new hole loading technology and the first machine were tested in 2000 at Sarbaisky Open-Cast. At the start of 2002, the fourth machine was put into operation, which allows to remove water and dirt from holes with the depth of 45 m 3�4 minutes before the loading, and to load holes with non-water-proof materials. The operating principle of this patented machine is based on the removal of the water column from the well with compressed air.
Another example of successful use of own technologies is a plant for the cooling of lubrication systems of breaking and line equipment. To solve this task, the company developed a method of welding a bundle of tubes of non-ferrous metals. The developers state that this work allowed to decrease the cost of water coolers.
A significant portion of necessary units and mechanisms is produced by SSMPA repair-and-engineering plant. The work, accomplished by this enterprise, allowed to fully meet the needs of the ore dressing facility in mill rounds. In addition, the enterprise produces items which find ready market in Kazakhstan and Russia and implements an efficient technology for repair and production of spare parts for excavators, boring rigs, breaking/beating and pumping equipment.

Eurasian Energy Corporation

    Systematic and well-organised work of staff ensures successful production development. In 2002, in accordance with refined data, SSMPA plans to mine and process 25 million tons of raw ore, produce 11.1 million tons of marketable products, including 7 million tons of fluxed pellets. The efficiency of Sokolovsko-Sarbaisky Mining Production Association was noted by Kazakh senators, who visited Sarbaisky Open-Cast. Leonid Burlakov, the Chairman of the Senators’ Committee for Regional Development and Local Self-Administration stated that the enterprise is steadily increasing production and invests significant funds in development, which increases the stability of the national economy in general.
SSMPA received a prestigious Golden Globe Reward for the production of competitive high quality products, participation in the national economy development and integration in the world economy. The reward was handed over by the Orient Development Fund Association. The Board of Directors of the National Marketing Institute and reputable experts in marketing awarded the company with a commercial prestige and trademark prize.