Russian Megafactories: One of the oldest enterprises in the Urals

Karabashmed ZAO is located in the city of Karabash in the Chelyabinsk region. It has been managed by Russian Copper Company (RCC) since 2004.

The remodeling of Karabashmed, one of the oldest enterprises in the region, was a milestone project for the industrial Urals.

The technologically and ecologically based modernization program addressed many of the region’s important environmental issues.

In addition to copper production, a concentrator plant for processing mineral raw materials and slag from metallurgical production was put into operation in 2007. The concentrator plant produces 650,000 tons of charge per year.

The plant is equipped with a reinforced crushing-and-sorting complex (Russia), flint mills (Citic, China), a flotation section (RIF, St Petersburg), a draining section (Outotec, formerly Outokumpu, Finland) and ceramic filter presses (China).

The concentrator plant has made it possible for Karabashmed to achieve a high copper extraction ratio while reaching its industrial and environmental objectives.

Thanks to the newly introduced technologies, copper concentrate and mortar sand, two important commercial products, can be processed from the slag. These products are sold to consumers and also used in RCC’s metallurgical production.

Karabashmed has ceased producing and accumulating solid waste by-products in the metallurgical production process.