OREANDA-NEWS. May 28, 2012. Mining Machines, Ukraine's biggest mining equipment producer, has signed a contract with Vietnamese VINACOMIN-Underground Mine Construction Company No.1. The deal suggests a turnkey construction of two shafts of Nui Beo mine with the equipment tailored to the local geology and economic targets of the Vietnamese company. Under the contract, the construction is to be completed in 20 months.

"Vietnamese market is one of our key destinations according to our Strategy. Over the next four years Vietnam is set to boost coal output to 75 million tonnes per year. A 35m-tonne increase in production will come from underground mining. T he contract with Vietnam's biggest national company will help us to expand in Vietnam and is an additional proof of the export potential of Ukrainian mining equipment and R&D," said Mining Machines' CEO Yevgeniy Romashchin.

Luganskpodzemstroy company has been engaged to build the shafts. Its specialists have more than 20 years of expertise in mine construction in Southeast Asia. Dnepropetrovsk National Mining University will be a scientific advisor to the deal and deliver training on shaft sinking and equipment use to the Vietnamese staff involved in the construction.

"We are happy to have partnered with a consortium led by Mining Machines to build facilities important for the country. Ukrainian party has a number of advantages that determined our choice: proven experience, tried-and-true technologies, scientific support and reliable equipment. I hope that our further cooperation will bring economic benefits and strengthen the highest-level ties between Ukraine and Vietnam," said Pham Dyc Hiem, a spokesman from VINACOMIN-Underground Mine Construction Company No.1