24 Jan 2012 16:20

Germany's Schmidt to invest over 245 mln euro in development of Ukrainian coal field

KYIV. Jan 24 (Interfax) - German company Schmidt plans to invest over 245 million euro into the development of the Novodmitriyevskoye brown (lignite) coal field in the Kharkiv Region, the region's administration said in a press-release.

"A memorandum between the Kharkiv Regional Administrative, Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences and the company Schmidt has been signed, which, in its letter of guarantee, stated the readiness to finance this project. This concerns 245 million euro only before the start of development," the press-release said.

A joint venture has been formed for the project. Exploration operations at the section should start in the next 18-months to two years.

According to the regional administration, coal reserves at the Novodmitriyevskoye field come to 390 million tonnes, which is enough for over 100 years of intensive production. "The coal quality is close to brown coal in the Urals, as well as Bulgarian, German and Yugoslav coal," the press release said.

It was earlier reported that Ukraine hopes to move its combined heat and power plants (CHPs) fully to coal-water mixture generation. The Energy and Coal Ministry is now developing this type of fuel technology at CHPs using brown and coking coal.