Trip to Kumtor Goldmine

This past weekend, I had the privilege of visiting the Canadian-owned Kumtor Goldmine which made for quite the adventure! I went with my counterpart’s brother-in-law and the two of us got a private tour of the operations. 

We left early on a transport vehicle which takes workers up for their 15 day shifts. Kumtor maintains its own dirt road that leads past my village, our scenic waterfall, the summer grazing pastures, and deep into the mountains. It was about a two hour ride through switchbacks, avalanche zones, and finally alpine meadows.

When we arrived, we were shuffled through security and had our blood pressure taken because of the high altitude (about 13,000 ft). Then we got hard hats, safety glasses, boots and orange vests and were off on our tour. The first stop was the road materials site and the gravel machine (excuse my made-up terminology, I had trouble following the very technical tour which was given in Kyrgyz). Maintaining the road up to the mine is a huge feat in and of itself, so a whole team of workers oversees that. 

Next we saw the lake where they collect water for the processing factory. All around us were rolling hills of mud and dried grass, hedged in by snow-covered peaks and glaciers. Aside from the herds of sheep we passed on the road up, the only animals I saw were a few crows and a startled gray fox. It was like being on another planet, frightening distant from civilization—oh, except for the village of trailers making up the Kumtor Operating Company.

Then we were taken up to the open mine pit which was teeming with huge dump trucks, each weighing 130 tons. From the depth of the pit and its tiered sides, you could tell this was hardly a new operation. High above all that was a little trailer perched on top of a mountain, which I immediately judged as unstable. Naturally, that was the next stop on the tour. Our guide urged our massive orange transport vehicle (the entire back of which was empty since the only two on the tour were riding in the cabin) up the steep incline to the dispatch trailer. From the top of the mountain, we could see everywhere we’d been that afternoon. Inside sat a man surveying the mine pit with binoculars from the window and another monitoring operations on a computer screen filled with rows of tiny color-coded dump trucks. 

Then it was on to the factory. Truckloads of ore are brought in and fed through huge revolving mills which grind off the carbon and other minerals adhered to the gold. Then the ore dust is filtered through floatation tanks and…various other things happen to it (sorry, I was totally lost at this point). So that was the factory, which was very dusty and smelled of chemicals. The three processing mills use as much electricity as the entire Issykkul Oblast!

There the tour came to an end and we were taken back to the trailer “camp” for dinner. The cafeteria was divided into the Kyrgyz food side and the Canadian food side. I decided to check out both and settled on some (Canadian) honey mustard chicken and apple pie. Then we hung out in our dorm rooms and I met my roommate for the night, a woman who works in the shop by the billiards lounge. A hot shower was also in order. Afterward, my counterpart’s husband, whom we had finally found at dinner, took us to see the nightshift at mine pit. 

The following morning, after a breakfast of French toast, it was time to head back to the village. I was kind of expecting some merchandise on our way out—maybe a “Kumtor” pen or a gold bar or something—but no dice. I really can’t complain though because the entire excursion was completely free. Heck, the shower alone was worth the trip! Thanks, Kumtor!