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Excursion to Kumtor

On 13-14 April, the Departments of 'Applied Geology' and 'Environmental Management and Sustainable Development' at AUCA organized the field trip to Kumtor mining site for students.

This site tour was arranged by faculty member Rustam Orozbaev, as a part of the practicum for the course of 'Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts of Mining'.听

It was very important for the students to visit the mine and see the scale of production, i.e. visit the open-pit mine, get an idea of the processes of flotation and gold extraction in the factory, and also familiarize with the water treatment facilities at the tailings pond. Such practical excursions greatly help students to consolidate the theoretical knowledge that they receive at the university.

Participants shared their thoughts on the excursion:

Bekbolot Temirkulov, sophomore of Applied Geology Department.

The trip to Kumtor Gold Mining site was very interesting, impressive and very exciting, and I can say that it was the best trip organized by our department. During excursion at the mining site, I have learned many new things. For example, how does Kumtor get gold, what it needs to make a pure and how much gold they can get every day. It was my first trip to Kumtor, and people who organized this excursion did a good job, and they did everything to make this trip really great and comfortable. This trip aroused wishes to work in Kumtor because it is such a nice place to work and improve professional skills. I hope, after the graduation of AUCA, I will have a chance to work at Kumtor Gold Company.

Nancy Stanley (USA), Exchange Student

After visiting the Kumtor Gold Mining site near the south of Issyk Kul this past weekend, I have a mixed blend of emotions. I am shocked, awestruck, horrified, impressed, and even more intrigued.

I was quite impressed with the incredible amount of organization throughout the whole process; Kumtor was very precise with safety protocol, required lots of checks, and even had a whole GPS system for their ore-transferring mega trucks. The cafeteria and housing for the workers that we encountered were also quite regulated. This widespread coordination was shocking for me to see in vast contrast to the ways of organization for the rest of the country.