OREANDA-NEWS. A state commission has approved a new longwall No. 961 at DTEK's Geroyev Donbass Mining Group. The company expects it to produce up to 280,000 tonnes of coal to be delivered to the western, eastern and central parts of the country securing consumers with electricity.

The new longwall is 250 m long and has a coal extraction area of 800 m. It can produce 1,478 tonnes of coking coal per day used by thermal power plants to provide hundreds of thousands of people with electricity.

The mine invested UAH 775,000 to repair a K-200 mining machine to launch the face. The longwall is fully automated with powered supports and a conveyor belt that significantly facilitate the work of miners. A study shows that the geological conditions of the new longwall are challenging. The coalbed is hazardous because of high risks of gas and dust release. However, a modern ventilation plant assembled in the mine in 2012 ensures the necessary airing and helps to avoid almost every risk of spontaneous combustion.

The coal face will be mined by the production team No. 2 led by Vladimir Brovchenko.

"The launch of the longwall No.961 is important both for the delivery of the production plan and development of the company", said Deputy Production Director at DTEK Geroyev Donbassa Mining Group Sergey Faraonov. Amid the current military operations in Ukraine's east and the political and economic crisis, DTEK continues to invest in the development of its businesses that are paramount for energy and social stability of the whole country. Our mining group has mined around 2.4m tonnes of "black gold" as of today. More than UAH 230m will be invested to sustain the production facilities of Geroyev Donbassa Mining Group. Our employees see that DTEK continuously develops and modernizes its production, realize their outlooks and are committed to working productively.

It has been the fourth longwall where the mining group began to mine coal since 2014. In total, the group operates six longwalls and plans to launch five more by the end of the year.