RICHMOND, BC, CANADA (February 2012) - Wenco International Mining Systems Ltd. has been officially awarded two distinct mine fleet management contracts in the emerging Russian mining market. The first of these contracts came in August of 2011 with Blagodotnoye, home to one of the largest gold producing enterprises in Russia followed by Severalmaz, Europe's largest primary diamond deposit, in November of 2011.
After the successful installation and continued operation of the full suite of Wenco Fleet Management Systems (FMS) at its Olympia mine in the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia, owner Polyus Gold called on Wenco once again to arrange installation of their software and hardware at the Blagodotnoye site. With four shovels, more than 60 haul trucks and 12 auxiliary units, the fleet at Blagodotnoye is estimated to produce 412,000 ounces of gold annually.
With six kimberlitic pipes located in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia on the White Sea side, Severalmaz boasts an estimated 220 million carats of rough diamonds. With Wenco systems set to be installed on seven loading units, 37 haul trucks and 15 auxiliary units, the open pit operation is scheduled to be commissioned by September of 2012.
Blagodotnoye and Severalmaz have come at a time when Wenco is consistently delivering leading edge software, hardware and training in the Russian region. Wenco is currently active with five mines in the region including the aforementioned Olympia gold mine, Nurba and Jubilee diamond mines owned by Alrosa, Ferrexpo's Poltava iron ore operation, and Vasilkovsky Gold, bringing the total number of equipment units carrying Wenco FMS well above 500.