A Russian company uses the Siberian city of Norilsk above the Arctic Circle to mine bitcoins. Bitcluster, the owner of the crypto mining operation, plans to expand the company’s activities after the facility starts in late 2020. According to the company’s website, the data center receives electricity tariffs as low as $ 0.03 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
Mining valuable crypto assets in the Arctic Circle
This week, Russian mining company Bitcluster was featured in a Bloomberg video report shedding light on the company’s Bitcoin mine Norilsk. The city of Norilsk is considered to be one of the northernmost settlements in the world and is known to host the metal mining company MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC. MMC Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest producer of palladium and also produces huge amounts of nickel, copper and platinum.
Now Bitcluster is bringing a new way of mining valuable assets to the polar region by setting up a cryptocurrency for shop mining in Norilsk.
The Siberian city of Norilsk is home to a permanent population of 175,000 and while nickel and palladium Mining season The Arctic Circle can have around 220,000 inhabitants.
Bitclusters co-founder Vitaly Borschenko stated in an interview that the Norilsk Bitcoin mine is being contracted by international interests around the world. Despite the fact that Norilsk’s arctic region is extremely cold, the temperatures benefit bitcoin mining as they aid the cooling aspect of the process, according to Bitcluster.
Bitcluster’s website states that the company is using a special canopy to protect the facility from the cold corridor. “The miners’ warm air is mixed to prevent the snow from falling,” notes Bitcluster.
Bitcluster says it houses mining equipment in various containers in the area, often covered in permafrost.
Electricity in the polar region is 25% cheaper than the Russian electricity grid. Norilsk generates its own electricity from natural gas and hydropower
The Russian company says it also uses Antminer S19 and built modular data centers to accommodate the ASIC devices. The Bloomberg video report also shows the company is getting very cheap electricity from mining in Norilsk.
According to Bitclusters co-founder Vitaly Borschenko started mining in Norilsk late last year.
According to the latest report, Electric is 25% cheaper than anywhere else in Russia as Norilsk generates its own electricity. Natural gas and hydropower are the dominant sources of electricity in the Arctic Circle. Bitcluster’s website states that the company gets electricity for just 2.75 rubles, or $ 0.039 per kWh.
The report also states that an abandoned nickel facility in Norilsk, which closed in 2016, is used for bitcoin mining. “The place is perfect for crypto mining: it’s cold and the area has [a] Power supply that is not connected to any Russian power grid, ”said Borschenko.
Bitcluster also claims that bitcoin mining will be the second largest consumer of electricity in the Norilsk region alongside metal mining company Norilsk Nickel. The company uses repurposed shipping containers to house the Antminers who dedicate hashpower to the Bitcoin network. Given the current exchange rates, the difficulty of the network and $ 0.039 per kWh, an Antminer S19 (110 Th / s) will produce $ 25 per day of Bitcoin.
What do you think of Bitcoin mining in the Arctic Circle region in Norilsk? Let us know what you think on this matter in the comments section below.
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0.039 kWh, Antminer S19, arctic, arctic circle, arctic temperatures, bit cluster, bitcoin, bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin mining, cheap electricity, cold weather, crypto, cryptocurrency, hashrate, metal mining, mining, bitcoin mining, MMC Norilsk Nickel, Norilsk, power supply, precious commodity, Russia, Siberian region
Photo credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Bitcluster website,
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