CROSS-CUTS NEW TREATMENT, OLD DEPOSIT

Soviet scientists have developed a new method of extracting a 95% copper concentrate from Udokan ores found in remote eastern Siberia. The method has been successfully tested in experimental laboratories in the U.S.S.R. The copper deposit was discovered in 1949 but was not delineated until after the 3,000-km Baikal Amur Railway was built in the early 1980s. It will be difficult to develop the deposit because the copper ores are covered with permafrost. In the summer the heat is almost tropical, but in the winter the temperature falls to –60 degrees C and snow covers the ground for up to 10 months a year. However, the high-quality deposit also contains valuable byproducts and is expected to justify the high cost of development.