Russian coal company increases production

In a recent press release, Russian coal mining company has announced it increased its overall raw coal production in 2013 by 12% compared to 2012, despite a fall in coal production in Q4 of last year.

The company said that during 2013 the Raspadaskiy opencast coal mine ramped up its production to the target level set out at the beginning of the year, and produced over 4 million t of metallurgical coal. Raspadskaya also increased production at the Rapadskaya-Koksovoya mine by 30% compared to 2012, with production for the year totalling almost 1 million t. These increases in production helped the company produce 7.8 million t in 2013.

Sales volumes have also increased over the year, with semi-hard and hard metallurgical coal concentrate sales increasing by 18% compared to 2012 and surpassing 5 million t. These figures were supported by the increase in coal production, according to the company.

Production of coal was offset slightly in Q4 2013, as production totaled 1.9 million t for the quarter, down 8% compared to Q3 2013. The company said the reason for the fall was due primarily to the scheduled repositioning of the mining complexes at the Raspadskaya mine and also at the MUK-96 mine.

At the Raspadskaya mine, the company has performed what it described as “considerable technical efforts” under the approved restoration programme. The efforts included:

• A ventilation shaft at Block 4 of the mine, known as Glukhaya, has been restored and will be returned to operations after all necessary balancing and commissioning has been completed.
• About 80% of the scheduled mining works necessary before operations in 2014 at the predesigned faces begin have been completed.

While the majority of the Raspadskaya’s coal was sold domestically, 42% of the company’s coal was sold abroad and Raspadskaya said that 73% of its overseas export sales were directed to the Asia-Pacific, and 27% to Ukraine.

The company also reported that its sale prices had suffered due to the “unfavourable market conditions over 2013 on the global coal market.” The global coal market has seen prices subdued due to an oversupply of coal. The weighted average selling price of Raspadskaya’s coal decreased by roughly 27%.

Gennady Kozovoy, Raspadskaya’s CEO, said: “During 2013 the company has performed a considerable contribution to future coal extraction at the Raspadskaya mine […] which celebrated its 40^th anniversary in December 2013. We have also developed a programme of mining operations at the mine and we are now looking to commission four coal faces during 2014. The company’s production plan for the year implies the possibility of increasing coal output by about 40% compared to 2013, following the step-wise implementation of the progamme measures.”

Edited from various sources by Sam Dodson

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/17012014/russian_coal_company_increases_production_416/