The performance, achieved by a reduced team, beats the previous world record of 628,000 metres of rock mass by a crew at the Tugnuisky open pit.

Suek said data for the new record, one not only for Russia but also the former Soviet Union, was confirmed by objective control instruments.

"We are very pleased to acknowledge that Urgalugol has both outstanding workers and exceptional competences in the field of Komatsu machine operation," senior vice president of Komatsu CIS, A E Klepikov, said.

"We have no doubt that the current achievement is not the last for your company, and in the future we will have more than one occasion to congratulate Urgalugol on setting new records using our vehicles."

The Bureinsky pit is located in the country's Khabarovsk region.