MAXAM
New production facilities in Oyu Tolgoi
2012.09.06
Press room - News - New production facilities in Oyu Tolgoi
MAXAM is the exclusive provider of blasting products and services at Oyu Tolgoi, the world's largest untapped gold and copper mine, located in Mongolia.
Deep underneath the surface of the South Gobi desert (580 km from UlanBaatar, capital of Mongolia), one of the biggest reserves of high-grade copper and gold in the world is beginning to be extracted. The operation, which will run for more than 50 years is being undertaken by Oyu Tolgoi, the company created for the sustained mining of these minerals.
Oyu Tolgoi contains approximately 41 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in measured and indicated resources and an additional 41 billion pounds of copper and 25 million ounces of gold in inferred resources.
Within Oyu Tolgoi, MAXAM serves as the blasting products & services provider, an honor that resulted from the company’s selection in a competitive international tender. MAXAM’s global supply capacities, as well as its ability to adapt to the project’s particular conditions, have played a key role in this process.
In words of José F. Sánchez-Junco, MAXAM’s Chairman & CEO, “Our commitment is with the productivity and profitability of Oyu Tolgoi, as well as with the development and progress of its local community and, due to the massive scale of this project, the greater Mongolian community as a whole”.
“MAXAM lends its global experience and 140 years of historical excellence to Oyu Tolgoi, along with the versatility of our high-tech portfolio of products and services, our R&D activity, and the global logistics and vertical integration of our company’s production chain.”
“We strive to make a lasting impact upon the community not only by way of our commercial presence, but also by contributing to the development of the region by launching different educational, social and community programs,” concludes Sánchez-Junco.
MAXAM: Global logistics
MAXAM global logistics is supported by its network of MAXAM subsidiaries around the world which provide the necessary raw materials required at Mongolia for its local production, as well as finished products.
Examples of this is the ammonium nitrate (AN) that forms a key part of all civil explosives comes from MAXAM Chirchiq, in Uzbekhistan, and the finished initiation systems used in the project, which are manufactured by MAXAM Russia, among others.
R&D: high-tech and versatility
The predominant civil explosive product employed at Oyu Tolgoi is RIOFLEX, a MAXAM-developed innovation which allows for great results in all imaginable environmental and mineral conditions.
RIOFLEX is unique product designed to be safe in its manufacture, transport and use. It is produced in sensitized facilities in order to respond to the blasting operations, to which it is transported via MMUs (mobile manufacturing units).
RIOFLEX is unique product designed to be safe in its manufacture, transport and use. It is produced in sensitized facilities in order to respond to the blasting operations, to which it is transported via MMUs (mobile manufacturing units).
RIOFLEX has been successfully used in temperatures ranging from -40º to +40º (from Siberia to Central Africa); in open pit and underwater mining projects (as effective in Amazonia, as in the Panama Canal expansion effort); and in the extraction of a great variety of minerals, including gold (in Finland and South Africa) or copper (in Poland and Kazakhstan).
This product is manufactured at Oyu Tolgoi. Here, MAXAM will be able to produce 55.000 tons of Matrix/year, and will have an AN (ammonium nitrate) storage capacity of 3.000 tons. It will feature two silos capable of holding 40 tons of AN, as well as a silo with 60 ton capacity, to be used in loading the MMU's. It will also have four maintenance vehicles, as well as a parking area.
At this manufacturing facility 32 MAXAM professionals will be employed. This team is in charge of the manufacture of products selected for use in the sustainable exploitation of the mine (civil explosives and initiation systems). It will also provide its complete range of products and services to Oyu Tolgoi, so that this operation can achieve its finest results in productivity and profitability.
Commitment with the local community
As part of the agreement to provide products and services to Oyu Tolgoi, MAXAM Mongolia is committed to implementing a series of Educational, Social and Community Programs, starting in September 2011 and continuing onwards until 2021.
These programs will benefit local communities with:
These programs will benefit local communities with:
- Training related to the use of blasting products & services technologies, permitting them to increase employment and allowing for the creation of local mining experts.
- Scholarships to university students, who will be trained in MAXAM facilities at Oyu Tolgoi and have the option of continuing their studies in Spain and joining the global MAXAM family.
- Assistance to Mongolian women and vulnerable children from unprivileged families.
- The development of local infrastructure that will foster the creation of employment, and generally provide the opportunity for the improved quality of life in the area.
MAXAM – www.maxam.net
MAXAM is a leading service and industrial group that operates on a global scale by developing, manufacturing and commercializing civil explosives and initiation systems for mining, quarries and infrastructures; cartridges, shotgun shells and smokeless powder for hunting and sports use; and products for the defense industry. Likewise, MAXAM is a supplier of key raw materials for nitro chemical activity, generated for the company’s own internal needs as well as for the commercialization to third parties. Finally, as a result of its drive towards innovative, sustainable development, MAXAM offers its clients a wide variety of solutions in the fields of safety and environmental conservation.
Founded by Alfred Nobel in 1872, MAXAM celebrates its 140th birthday in 2012 with a yearly turnover of approximately one billion euros and a presence in all of the major mining areas of the world, with production sites in over 40 countries, an active market presence in more than 100 others, and over 6500 employees spread across five continents.
Oyu Tolgoi - www.ot.mn
Oyu Tolgoi LLC is Mongolia’s largest copper and gold mining company and is a strategic partnership between the Government of Mongolia (34%), Turquoise Hill Resources (66%, formerly known as Ivanhoe Mines), Rio Tinto (owns 51% of Turquoise Hill Resources and is the manager of the Oyu Tolgoi project).
Oyu Tolgoi LLC is Mongolia’s largest copper and gold mining company and is a strategic partnership between the Government of Mongolia (34%), Turquoise Hill Resources (66%, formerly known as Ivanhoe Mines), Rio Tinto (owns 51% of Turquoise Hill Resources and is the manager of the Oyu Tolgoi project).
In addition to dividends from its stake in Oyu Tolgoi, the Government of Mongolia will receive taxes and royalties derived from the project.
Oyu Tolgoi’s key priorities are the health and safety of employees, best-practice environmental management, contributing to sustainable communities and always doing business with integrity, for the benefit of all the project’s shareholders and the people of Mongolia.
