The story of a major fire at the Buryat Ozerny mining and processing complex is becoming more detailed. Og…

The story of a major fire at the Buryat Ozerny mining and processing complex is becoming more detailed.

The fire damaged the plant’s workshops under construction, which were supposed to be put into operation last summer. But all the deadlines were missed, hence the rush and the probable violation of safety standards as the main suspected cause of the fire. The repair shop burned out completely, and the crushing, flotation and separation shops were damaged by 70%, according to preliminary estimates.

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In addition to the causes of the fire, it is of interest why they could not put it out for about 8 hours. The answer is simple – the closest squad of fire engines – only 2 pieces – was based at a distance of 100 km from the fire site.

The formal owner of the Ozerny mining and processing complex is the famous entrepreneur Vladislav Sviblov (Highland Gold holding). The project itself was built entirely with money from the state bank VTB as part of project financing. Now the completion date of the project has been postponed indefinitely, for at least a year. And VTB, Sviblov and possibly other, as yet unnamed, participants in this project will have to count the losses and determine at whose expense they will be covered.

The Highland Gold holding did not have its own construction facilities at the site; all work at the Ozerny mining and processing complex was carried out by contractors, among whom the media mentioned Mountain Eurasia, OMS, TFM and the Turkish Iskontech. It is necessary to find out which of the contractors “something went wrong” and what happened to the insurance coverage.

But the Ozerny mining and processing enterprise, even without any fires, had already accumulated debt to contractors and suppliers, plus payments on the VTB loan were coming due. At whose expense these obligations will be financed is also unclear.