On Jun, 21-22 within the framework of World Mining Congress we made a series of tours to learn about kazakh culture and industrial sites of Central Kazakhstan:
- City tour in Astana and a village nearby.
- Bozshakol copper quorry.
- Karaganda coal mine.
- Gold refinery near Kokshetau.
- Temirtau steel plant.
On the surface. With all safety measures, it was very impressive to realize how much prework should be done: electricty and water supply, delivery of all ,machinery, people, coal, gas safety, dust protection, wood, maintenance – huge job!!
Copper refinery turned out to be much more advanced in technical sense that it could be expected.
610 meters underground, 4 to 5 minutes descend. This job must be paid much better, obviously!!
The quarry may seems not too deep, but its depth is 450 meters. Here golden ore is mined, then processed at the plant and refined.
I am 188 cm. tall, therefore, diameter of the wheel must be about 3.5 meters.
In a the bucket. Huge machine, love it!!
Holding a bar of gold. It is surprisingly heavy. I had to balance myself while holding it. In my assessment it must be about 22 kg.
Now I had to do, what weightlifters call Clean-And-Jerk. By my feeling, two bars weighed around 50kg.
- Temirtau steel plant.