Chairman of the Board of Directors of Verkhnekamsk Potash Company and Acron Vice President for Mining and Chemical Production Development Sergey Fedorov presided over an on-site meeting in March 2012 in Berezniki. The purpose of the meeting was to increase effective coordination between the Company and its contractors. Representatives of VPC, Belgorkhimprom and FGUP US-30 summarised last year's work and planned activities for 2012. Participants discussed the development of design and engineering documentation, specifically for construction of mine shafts, and schedules for completing the documentation and work. A report was discussed on the conditions feasibility study, design premises, technical conditions and documentation for a temporary road.

Preparations began for the purchase of a concrete mixer to provide the construction site with concrete, equipment for the main lowering substation and other machinery. A significant amount of earthwork for the site’s vertical layout, preceded by engineering and a geological survey, is scheduled for the summer.
Top management will hold quarterly on-site meetings, in addition to monthly technical meetings with the main contractors and VPC specialists since the beginning of full-scale construction at the site.
Sergey Fedorov resumed the output of the two-day meeting. Summer season work will begin soon, so it's crucial to focus on results and start construction of the mine shaft with cage winding in 2012, as was previously planned. Fedorov stressed the necessity of moving forward and eliminating any cause for potential delay, both to improve the quality of work and to ensure fast decision-making.
The meeting signed a protocol setting out the activities to be accomplished, relevant deadlines and the individuals responsible for each activity.

Meeting in Belarus
Milestones set for development of Talitsky design documentation

On April 10, an on-site meeting was held at OJSC Belgorkhimprom (Minsk, Republic of Belarus) to discuss the design and construction of the Talitsky MPC.
Acron Vice President and Chairman of the VPC Board of Directors Sergey Fedorov, head of Acron’s budget and analysis department Sergey Hilimendik, Belgorkhimprom Director General Sergey Shmet and representatives of contractors took part in the meeting.
Project status reports were delivered by chief specialists from VPC, FGUP US-30, LLC EvroGeoProekt (Samara), NIPI Volgogorhimstroy (Volgograd), LLC PTB Volgogradgrazhdanstroy and department heads from Belgorkhimprom.

EvroGeoProekt Director General Aleksey Yegorov provided information on the progress of topographical and geological surveys and a location survey for temporary facilities. He stated that his company is ready to run engineering investigations for the mining complex's permanent buildings and infrastructure.

Head of FGUP US-30 Yuri Adadurov reported that the architectural and design concepts for the above-ground complex for the skip and cage shafts will be finished by April 30, along with the engineering documentation for preparatory stage. The preparatory stage includes construction of a base of operations for US-30, above-ground facilities, drill platform, worker housing and the drilling of boreholes and portals for the skip and cage shafts. Construction of the mine shafts will be complete by May 31.

CJSC UralTEP and LLC Sevzapmostproject expressed their readiness to join the project.
In an important step, meeting participants agreed on a schedule for key milestones in the development of the Talitsky mining and processing complex.

Not Only Belarus

After VPC specialists returned from Belarus, our correspondent asked VPC Technical Director Alexander Motovilov to share the results of the meeting.

- The Talitsky MPC is being constructed here, near Berezniki, but the meeting took place in Minsk. Why didn't you ask your contractors to visit you instead and discuss the current issues here?

- We hold technical meetings once a month, both here in Berezniki and at our contractors' locations. We gathered in Moscow in February, then in Berezniki in March, and in April we went to Minsk. The Talitsky MPC is a big, complex project, and sometimes it's just impossible for our contractors to come and answer questions we might have. We can't expect, say, a whole department of Belgorkhimprom to get here to resolve issues. That's what these meetings are for - to get answers quickly.

- Can you tell us what changes to the project were made at the last meeting?

- We had a lot of discussion on the engineering solutions and made a decision on modular disposal facilities for sewage water.

Previously, the temporary and permanent facilities were on different sides of the construction site, but now we agreed to place the temporary disposal facility near the permanent one to save time and money. In May, we will start building worker housing at the settlement of Zheleznodorozhny, the above-ground mine facilities, and portals for the skip and cage shafts. We also discussed provisional power supply using diesel generators and power lines, and construction of permanent fire water tanks instead of temporary ones.

Acron Vice President for Mining and Chemical Production Development Sergey Fedorov said, referring to the importance of starting construction on time, that all sides have a vested interest in keeping to the schedule, and that the deadline will be met. Some contractors, including EvroGeoProject Director General Aleksey Yegorov, asked us to speed up the technical specification for the saline dump and master layout for Stage 3 work.

- It looks like VPC will have more contractors.

- That is true. The directors of LLC Sevzapmostproject and CJSC UralTEP gave presentations about their companies and the projects they have worked on. UralTEP worked with North-Western Phosphorous Company, another Acron subsidiary, on a project to build a main lowering substation for the Oleniy Ruchey MPC project. Sevzapmostproject has a lot of experience designing transportation facilities and has worked with NWPC, as well. It's quite likely that we will contract with them. We are watching closely how things are going at the Oleniy Ruchey MPC site on the Kola Peninsula and hope to benefit from our colleagues' experience.

- So you visit the Murmansk region, as well?

- Yes. Phone and Internet are no substitute for talking face-to-face and touching the things you are talking about.

Busy Days

- With the coming of spring you'll probably spend all your time at the construction site. What are your main objectives?

- The landscape of the Talitsky site is very uneven, so we have to do a lot of earthwork to even it out. That’s what we call the site’s vertical layout. We'll have to raise the power line that pass through the site and supply other factories with electricity. We also have to decide where to build the provisional power line for fill work. That's what we have to do on the surface.

- And below ground?

- As I reported in Minsk at a previous scientific and engineering meeting we held, we agreed to use console shaft equipment. Our contractors at the engineering bureau will make the necessary calculations and send the project to the state expert review board.

- According to the milestones schedule, you plan to finish development of design documentation by February 2013. However, VPC already intends to complete some serious work at the site this year.

- Chief Project Engineer Dmitry Skalaban (Belgorkhimprom) proposed dividing the Talitsky MPC project into different stages - mine and surface facilities - so that we can receive approval from the state expert review board step-by-step. Everyone at the meeting felt that this was a sound proposal. There will be a lot of work at the site this summer, starting with construction of an administrative facility and utility network and provision of water for the site (technical, potable, process and anti-fire water). Construction of the Talitsky MPC is entering its active phase and there's no time to rest. We all have busy days ahead.