Raspadskaya commissions coal face with reserves of 3 million tonnes at Erunakovskaya-8 mine

KEMEROVO. Feb 12 (Interfax) - PJSC Raspadskaya has commissioned a coal face at the Erunakovskaya-8 deep mine with reserves of 3 million tonnes of Zh grade coking coal, the public relations department of Raspadskaya Coal Company, which manages Raspadskaya's assets, said.

The new face should produce 180,000 tonnes of coal per day. "It will take until November 2025 to finish mining it," the company said.

The company told Interfax that the coal face was commissioned at the start of February.

It said in the statement that the coal face had been degassed by the plasma-pulse impact method. Raspadskaya was "the first in the Russian coal industry" to use this method.

The company told Interfax that the plasma-pulse impact method was able to remove methane from coal seams several years before mining is due to commence. "Electric current pulses make cracks in the seam through which methane comes to the surface," it said, adding that the conventional method was to carry out degassing by drilling special wells.

PJSC Raspadskaya brings together the enterprises of a single complex for the extraction of coking coal, including the country's largest Raspadskaya mine, Razrez Raspadsky, and the Raspadskaya-Koksovaya mine, as well as the Mezhegeyugol, the Alardinskaya, Osinikovskaya, Uskovskaya, Yerunakovskaya-8, and Esaulskaya mines. The controlling shareholder is Evraz, which owns 93.2% of the company's shares.