Assarel Mining and Processing Complex
Assarel Mining and Processing Complex
Assarel is the name of a site in the Sashtinska Sredna Gora Mountain at an altitude of about 1000 meters, located at 11 km to the northwest from the town of Panagyurishte and to 90 km to the east of the capital Sofia. It is soaring above the sacred for any Bulgarian historic site Oborishte. The hydrothermal copper deposit Assarel is of copper porphyry type and it is located at 12 km away from the Medet deposit in the ore region of Panagyurishte. It was formed in the late Cretaceous period and the main ore minerals are chalcosine, pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite and coveline, as the average copper grade is 0,45 %.
An experimental mining section with the name Assarel was created on January 1, 1976 after carrying out a detailed geological study. Thus, the Assarel Mining and Processing Сomplex building studied in which the traditions of the Medet Mining and Processing Сomplex were upgraded and most modern technologies, highly productive equipment and unique corporate know-how were developed.
The Assarel mine and Assarel concentrator plant for copper concentrate recovery are two of the major production workshops of the Assarel-Medet JSC Mining and Processing Complex. The modern interstructure of the largest Bulgarian mining company for open pit mining and copper ore processing also includes a Return Water Sector, Copper Microbiological Leaching Facility, Cyclic Flow Conveyor Technology for mined material transportation, SX-EW Facility, Purification Stations, etc.
The first sod of the Assarel Mine was turned on May 7, 1976
and the mined material was processed in the reconstructed for the time Medet Mining and Processing Complex during the period from 1977 to 1989.
Since 1986 Eng. Lachezar Tsotsorkov was first General and later Executive Director who organized the crucial stage of the mine construction and the new concentrator plant. He also consolidated Assarel Mining and Processing Сomplex and Medet Mining and Processing Сomplex into Assarel-Medet Technological Mining and Processing Complex. On September 30, 1989 the first capacities of the Assarel Concentrator started functioning. On December 6, 1989 the produced quantities of copper concentrate were shipped to the Pirdop Smelter. This was also the date of the official regular commissioning of the Assarel Mining and Processing Сomplex with a humble celebration honored by workers, specialists, investors and builders.
The Assarel-Medet Technological Mining and Processing Complex was created on the basis of the Assarel Mining and Processing Сomplex and the Medet Mining and Processing Сomplex in 1986 which is Assarel-Medet JSC Mining and Processing Complex, the largest Bulgarian mining company for open pit mining and copper ore processing.
The innovative spirit of the Assarel’s employees finds its expression in the motto: “To start first means to be on time”
as the best production and management practices in the mining industry are implemented and created in the company. This was confirmed for the successive time also in 2004 when the implementation of a large-scale modernization project at the amount of more than $ 100 mln. US Dollars started. The investment in the thorough equipment renovation, technology modernization and personnel development lay in the foundations of the high production results which are record-breaking in the company’s history and the Bulgarian mining industry.
"Lights over the town" - a Film about the History of the Company
Construction of Mine and Enrichment Factory "Asarel"
"Assarel - Medet" Mining and Processing Complex