Raspadskaya resumes coal mining at face hit by fire in April

KEMEROVO. May 3 (Interfax) - Raspadskaya Coal Company, which manages the mine and other assets of PJSC Raspadskaya , is fully resuming coal mining at the eponymous mine, the company told Interfax.

"All the work, and technical and organizational measures necessary for the resumption [of mining] at the face where an incident occurred in April 2023 have been carried out," the company said in a statement.

The mine shut down operations on April 19 after a fire broke out. Operations were resumed the following day with the exception of the face where the fire occurred. The Mezhdurechensk municipal court issued an order on April 24 to suspend coal mining at this face for 90 days.

It was reported that the Kemerovo Region investigations department of the State Investigative Committee initiated a pre-investigation probe into the spread of smoke in the mine workings.

The fire occurred at a depth of several hundred meters. A spokesman for the company told Interfax at the time that the health and lives of miners were not at risk, they were all evacuated to the surface. There were 275 people in the mine when the fire broke out, according to the administration of Mezhdurechensk, where Raspadskaya is located.

The Raspadskaya, Russia's largest underground coal mine, is owned by PJSC Raspadskaya, which in turn is 93.2% owned by steel and mining group Evraz.