NMMC’s new Grinding Mill No. 8: process control implications for Kokpatas engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Navoi Mining & Metallurgical Company has commissioned Grinding Mill No. 8 at Hydrometallurgical Plant No. 3 as part of Phase III of its Kokpatas and Daugyztau gold ore mining project. The new grinding capacity is designed to support expanded ore throughput from the two open pits, feeding downstream hydrometallurgical circuits at the plant. For process engineers, the additional mill will affect grind size control, reagent consumption and leach kinetics, and may require updated liner strategies and power draw management across the grinding circuit.
Technical Brief
- Phased commissioning approach allows progressive ramp-up while maintaining ore supply from current circuits.
- Location within an operating hydromet plant implies tie-ins to established classification, pumping and leach circuits.
- NMMC’s investment programme suggests multi-year scheduling of additional mining and processing infrastructure beyond this mill.
- Additional grinding unit increases operational complexity for maintenance planning, spares, and mill relining logistics.
- Similar brownfield mill additions often trigger updates to power distribution, MCCs and process control architecture.
Our Take
Navoi Mining & Metallurgical Company’s commissioning activity at Kokpatas and Daugyztau aligns with its recent S&P Global upgrade to a ‘BB’ rating, signalling that incremental plant and mill expansions are being underpinned by improving access to external finance rather than purely internal cash flow.
Within our 817 Mining stories and 270 gold-keyword pieces, NMMC appears relatively rarely compared with majors in Australia or North America, so the addition of Grinding Mill No. 8 at Hydrometallurgical Plant No. 3 flags Uzbekistan’s gold sector as a growing large-scale producer to watch rather than a fringe jurisdiction.
Given current gold prices in our coverage are modelled as potentially reaching $8,000/oz by 2030, debottlenecking through new grinding capacity at Kokpatas and Daugyztau likely improves NMMC’s leverage to high-price scenarios without the permitting and social risk profile seen in some greenfield gold projects elsewhere.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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