Vanadium, the ore mining and processing enterprise based in Kachkanar, Sverdlovsk Region, launched its investment project targeted at increasing production and transporting more mined rock. The project provides for acquisition and launch of sixteen pieces of new machinery and considerable upgrade of the plant’s communication system as well as creating more jobs, the spokesperson for the enterprise reports.

The better part of the equipment has already arrived at the plant. These are eleven dump cars with the capacity of 105 tons each, TEM-18 diesel locomotive and NP-1 electromotive. To service 200 kilometers of the plant’s railways, a diesel railcar was bought. In addition, the parts and units of EKG-10 excavator keep getting delivered to the plant, so the excavator will probably be launched by the fall of 2008.

Vanadium’s experts and contractors keep renovating the railways and stations; they are planning to install nineteen new point switches and 1,500 meters of rails as well as a new transformer that will be 1.5 times more powerful than the old one.

The investment project also provides for the introduction of the global positioning system for making the management of ore mining and transportation more effective. All of the enterprise’s vehicles (about 200 units) will be fitted with position and control meters that will be united into a single administration system. The system will keep track of the precise location and working regime of each piece of equipment. To run the new machinery, 83 new employees were hired, mainly engine operators, electricians, railway mechanics, and locksmiths.

The implementation of the project is expected to raise the enterprise’s mined rock output by 2.5 million tons a year.