OREANDA-NEWS. July 22, 2010. Arkticheskiye razrabotki, a company of ITERA Group of Companies, started drilling the first borehole (out of 22 boreholes planned for 2010) in accordance with terms and conditions of the license agreement and the schedule for prospect evaluation survey, in Apsatskoe coal field in the Trans-Baikal Territory.

According to the project design, it is necessary to accomplish a complex of geological exploration activities and to assess undiscovered potential resources of coal and methane in Apsatskoe field in 2012, and to enter its reserves in the state coal balance in 2016. Production of metallurgical coal (similar to that of Raspadskaya coal mine) is planned to begin in 2017, at the latest. The total expenditure on exploration is Rub. 700 million.

Due to high gas presence in coal layers, advanced national and foreign technologies for commercial production and utilization of methane in coal mines will be used during production.

Development of Apsatskoe, one of the largest fields in Russia from the baking coal reserves perspectives, is important for the local economy. In particular, the development of Udokan Copper Field and Chineiski titanium-magnetic iron ore field resulted in considerable deficit of electric power. It may be covered by way of constructing a generating facility based on Apsatskoe resources. It is intended to supply concentrated baking coal to metallurgical plants in Russia and Asia-Pacific countries.