The achievement by Evgeny Kosmin and his team follows on from a series of all-Russian and world production records set by the mine last year. By the end of 2017, the mine’s production volume amounted to 5.3 million t. Since the start of this year, having started working on the lava from which the coal is mined in April, the team has produced 4.9 million t.
Sergei Tsivilev, an acting governor of the Kemerovo region, noted: “Records are always the result of the highest productivity of our miners. It is production achievements that ensure the lowest cost of production, which means that our coal is highly competitive. For us, this is vitally important now, at a time when the entire Kuzbass is on the verge of a powerful economic breakthrough.”
“SUEK invests a lot in equipment upgrades. And it is the best in the world,” said Kosmin. “We got a new generation cleaning combine Eickhoff SL 900 that can produce up to 4000 t of coal per hour. We moved to a new layer, where we began to prepare lavas with the bottomhole section length of 400 m, which are not present in Russia. The new mining technology makes it possible to produce more coal in fewer cycles. Everything is set up in the bottom and in the transport chain, so that the combine cuts almost non-stop. Of course, records are hard-won. But the team wants to constantly improve its own results.”
SUEK CEO, Vladimir Rashevksy, said: “The fact that the most modern technology is operated by a well-coordinated high class team of professionals, allows us to achieve results that a few years ago seemed fantastic. Every new record is a new level of professional standard, to which the whole industry will look up to. This is also a new step in the development of the modern, technologically advanced Russian coal industry.”