OREANDA-NEWS. KOKS Group, the world’s largest exporter of merchant pig iron and a leading producer of merchant coke in Russia, announces completion of its Butovskaya mine construction.
 Butovskaya mine’s JORC measured and indicated resources are estimated at 111.1 million tonnes of coal. The resources are mainly represented by KO and K coal grades according to Russian classification. The mine is expected to be operational for about 40 years.

 Designed extraction capacity of the mine will reach 1.5 million tonnes after its second longwall face is commissioned.

 Investments into construction of the mine and its infrastructure by the time of its operations start totalled 8.8 billion RUR (around USUSD 290 million).

 Butovskaya mine is a socially important object for the City of Kemerovo and Kemerovo region. 878 jobs were created as a result of putting the asset into operation. The number of jobs will increase to 1360 after the mine’s second face is commissioned.

 It took more than 5 years to construct the mine. All essential infrastructure objects have been built during the time: technological complex for coal admission, storage and shipping, general aeration system, boiler-house, waste treatment facilities, power rectification substation, two power transmission lines from Kemerovskaya Thermal Power Plant and others.

 The mining field is tapped with three inclined shafts. Around 15 kilometres of tunnels have been created during construction time. Nearly all mine tunnels were constructed using tunnelling machines. Coking coal will be extracted with highly productive up-to-date automated mining equipment.

 The newest production equipment of the leading domestic and international engineering companies is used at the Butovskaya mine. It provides high effectiveness in coal extraction, tunnelling works, transportation of loads and workers and labour safety. Safety of the personnel working underground will be secured by fixed sensors and mobile detectors to monitor poisonous gas content, coal dust content, air movement speed and other parameters of the mine’s atmosphere.

 President – Chairman of the Management Board of OOO Managing Company Industrial Metallurgical Holding (KOKS Group’s management company) Evgeniy Zubitskiy commented the event:

 “We expect to extract around 500 thousand tonnes of coal in 2013 at the mine. Next year we will extract 850 thousand tonnes of coal. The new highly productive asset will secure stable quality of coal concentrate delivered to OAO Koks. It will also protect the company against raw materials price fluctuations and increase KOKS Group’s profitability as a whole. In addition, due to uninterrupted supplies of high grade coal produced by the Group, Kemerovo coking plant will be able to produce coke with improved CSR and CRI rates that will enhance competitive position of the plant and will increase efficiency of merchant pig iron production at the KOKS Group’s metallurgical plant Tulachermet”.