OREANDA-NEWS. July 01, 2013. Vorkutaugol, part of the Resources Division of Severstal, one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, has opened up – a new longwall at the Vorgashorskaya Mine. The new longwall is at the mining face of the Moshchny Bed, which holds approximately 1.1 mln. tonnes of coal, making it the largest reserve within the Pechora Coal Basin where it is located.

The newly commissioned longwall 162 will replace the longwall 652?s which has been phased-out. The new longwall’s coal bed thickness measures from c.2.6 to c.2.8 meters.

An Eickhoff SL-300 extractor, a cutting-edge German coalcutter which has been used successfully in the past by Vorkutaugol, will be used to cut into the new 280 meter-long longwall.

Vorgashorskaya’s new longwall is expected to be fully operational as early as this July, with 200 thousand tonnes of coal expected to be extracted each month. At this excavation rate, all coal reserves will be extracted from the longwall by November.

Once cut into the new longwall, Vorgashorskaya will run two faces, one of which, 243?s, is a “mega-longwall” due to its huge monthly output of 320 tons. The new longwall will ensure that during the period of retooling at the Vorgashorskaya mine no volumes will be lost.

Mikhail Timofeyev, Director of the Vorgashorskaya Mine, commented: “The new longwall will have a positive impact across the mine, with the face on the run, the overall process continuity will be secured at the mine for the whole period of retooling.”