The Federal Environmental Management Surveillance Committee and Sverdlovsk Region and Ural Federal District’s divisions of Rosprirodnadzor (the state environmental watchdog) carried out a scheduled inspection of Uralelectromed (a Pyshma-based copper enterprise) between May 19, 2008 and June 18, 2008, the spokesperson for Ural Federal District’s division of Rosprirodnadzor reports.

In the course of the inspection, twenty-four violations of existing environmental legislation were detected, including eleven offenses related to subsoil resource management and thirteen violations related to water use legislation regulations. The company, for instance, does not have any documents that could certify the industrial safety and the authorities’ approval of its subsoil resource protection practices. The subsoil resources are being used without the legal permission for a land allotment; the enterprise’s use of some water bodies (the River Shitovskoy Istok, the River Neiva, Lake Klyuchi, Lake Glukhoye, and Kalatinskoye marsh) violates the existing regulations, while its use of Lake Shigirskoye, the River Khvoschevka, and the River Rezh violate the terms of the company’s license. Apart from that, the enterprise’s manufacturing water affects the River Kalatinka and the River Neiva badly.

The inspection resulted in two administrative offense reports and two administrative liability orders. Uralelectromed will have to eliminate the offenses and might lose its license allowing it to develop Khvoschevskoye II deposit rich in fluxing limestone.