Private LTE Network Goes Live at Russia’s Natalka Gold Mine
The network was designed to maintain a stable signal even in the deepest areas of the open-pit mine.
Private mobile networks are expanding across Russia’s mining industry, becoming a core tool for digital transformation and automation. These dedicated networks help mining companies connect equipment, monitor operations in real time, and build the communications infrastructure needed for more efficient and increasingly automated production.
Harsh Weather Is No Obstacle
A new private LTE (pLTE) network has recently gone live at the Natalka Mining and Processing Plant in Russia’s Magadan Region, operated by gold producer Polyus. Reliable mobile connectivity now covers the entire open-pit mine.
Building the network proved challenging for the engineering team. The Natalka deposit lies in rugged mountainous terrain, surrounded by hills, so the network infrastructure had to account for constantly changing topography. The equipment also needed to withstand harsh climatic conditions, including low temperatures, heavy snowfall, fog, and strong winds.
One of the network’s key features is its ability to operate using reflected signals. This is particularly important in an open-pit mine, where changing terrain can create radio-shadow zones that block direct signals. By using reflected signals, the network can maintain reliable connectivity even in the deepest sections of the pit.
Geographic Redundancy Boosts Network Resilience
St. Petersburg-based telecom equipment developer and supplier PROTEI Research and Technical Center (NTC PROTEI) provided the network equipment. The design incorporates geographic redundancy at the network core, significantly improving resilience and reducing the risk of service disruption. The network core processes and routes transmitted data, connecting devices to the company’s corporate and operational information systems.
Up to 150 units of mining and haulage equipment currently operate in the pit, under continuous monitoring by the Production Control Center. Staff receive real-time data on vehicle locations, fuel levels, and technical condition. This approach not only makes production processes more transparent and easier to manage, but also helps teams schedule maintenance in time to prevent major equipment failures.
“The deployment of the pLTE network at the Natalka Mining and Processing Plant is an important part of the facility’s digital transformation. For us, this means moving beyond isolated digital solutions toward an integrated production environment in which mining equipment, sensors, cameras, mobile devices, and control systems can operate within a shared information space. These new technologies lay the groundwork for further improvements in the operational efficiency of the Natalka Mining and Processing Plant,” says Alexander Ognev, managing director of the Natalka facility.
The Number of Dedicated Networks Keeps Growing
As of November 2025, more than 170 private mobile networks were operating at Russian industrial facilities, with mining accounting for the largest share of deployments. A total of 41 networks served mining companies, and that number continues to rise. Digitalization across these sites has been underway for several years.
In 2021, Russian operator MegaFon launched a private wireless network at the Lebedinsky Mining and Processing Plant. The challenge was to provide reliable coverage across the world’s largest open-pit iron ore mine.
That same year, MTS and Ericsson launched Russia’s first commercial dedicated LTE/5G-ready network for Polymetal at a gold deposit. The deployment enabled the automation of navigation and dispatch systems.
Another Project for Polyus
Natalka is not Polyus’s only infrastructure project this year. In May, the company partnered with Beeline Business to deploy a private wireless communications network at the Olimpiada Mining and Processing Plant in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory. In a first for Russian industry, the partners combined modern private LTE technology with the site’s existing Infinet broadband wireless access infrastructure. This enabled a seamless transition of core operations to the new solution while maintaining high availability for digital services.
Over the past five years, private mobile networks have evolved from an experimental technology into a core tool for industrial digitalization. The deployment at the Natalka Mining and Processing Plant demonstrates that Russian specialists have the expertise to tackle projects of any complexity.
