In the first half of 2016 coal miners of Amur region produced more than 1,5 million tons of coal. The main consumers of brown steam coal from Erkovetsky and Severo-Vostochniy coal mines are CHPs and power generating companies of the region.

Production volume of Erkovetsky and Severo-Vostochniy coal mines is now 100 thousand tons more than the same period last year. The productivity was increased because of the update of mining equipment. Coal mines received new self-propelled drilling rig and buses.

Amur region was the first place in Soviet Union where open-pit mining started in 1932. Now much attention is paid to reclamation of cultivated land.

Besides Erkovetsky and Severo-Vostochniy coal mines the assets of Russian Coal Group in Amur region include mechanical repair plant, training and educational center and motor depot. Coal reserves of the mines are 572 million tons. More than 1700 miners are working in Amur region.

JSC “Russian Coal” received the right to work at “Northeastern” coal area of Pereyaslovskoe coalfield. The period of license is 25 years. Thereby JSC “Russian Coal” has increased its reserves by 78 million tons. Now total coal reserves of the company are 1.324 billion tons.

In 2-2.5 years mining at the new area will begin. The development system there will be the same but with a new technical project which is aimed to maintain and, if necessary, to increase the production capacity of the company with minimal costs.

Pereyaslovskiy coal mine began its work in 1983. It is one of the biggest mines of brown coal in Krasnoyarsk region. Production capacity of the mine is 7 million tons of coal a year. More than 720 people work at the mine.

In 2015 mining transportation equipment of Pereyaslovskiy was updated. New bulldozers were bought. This year a new garage for the repair of bulldozers was also built and new railway scales were installed. In 2016 it is planned to continue updating transportation equipment of the mine.

Current coal reserves let JSC “Russian Coal” work for 100 years with the existing production capacities. Company plans to continue increasing production volumes and growing its reserves of coal.

November 16, 2015 coal mine “Stepnoy” which is part of JSC “Russian Coal” produced 50 millionth ton of coal. Coal mine “Stepnoy” is situated in Khakassia region. Is started to operate in 1993 and produces D-rank coal which is in high demand both in Russia and abroad.

From the beginning of 2015 “Stepnoy” produced 3.3 million tons of coal. Production capacity of the mine is 5 million tons per year. In 2014 “Stepnoy” produced 4 million tons of coal and in the short term the increase of production to 5 million tons is planned.

All produced on the mine coal is planned to process at the coal refining plant of “Stepnoy”. From the beginning of 2015 the plant produced 2.8 million tons of coal. In 2016 production capacity of the plant will be increased to 4.2 million tons.

At “Stepnoy” combined development system is applied. In mining operations 15 dragline excavators including hydraulic excavators HITACHI, 35 dump trucks BelAZ and 12 bulldozers are used. In 2015 technological transport system of “Stepnoy” was updated. 3 new dump trucks and a bulldozer were bought. In 2016 it is planned to buy new hydraulic excavators and dump trucks for the mine.

Production of “Stepnoy” is used by municipal utilities and power generating companies as well as exported to Poland, Baltic States, Turkey and China. In 2016 after the modernization of refining plant JSC “Russian coal” plans to increase the share of exported coal to 60%. In 2015 the share of export from coal mine “Stepnoy” will be 40%.

General Manager of coal mine “Stepnoy” Nikolai Zibarev congratulated the staff with the production of the 50 millionth ton of coal. “I am proud to be in the team of high professionals and sure enough that in future we will have new mining records”, he said.

Analysts forecast that in 2030 energy consumption of ten largest countries of APR (China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar and Bangladesh) will grow by 33%. The main source of energy in this region is coal. In 2015 China is going to build 155 coal-fired power plants. Their total capacity will reach 123 gigawatts. In 2040 APR countries will take 4/5 of the world coal consumption. Now coal forms 48% of energy balance in this region. For comparison, the global market share of coal is 29%.

While world coal prices remain low Russian export supplies of coal continue to grow because of devaluation. Weakening of the ruble led to the increase of Russian coal exports’ competitiveness in contrast with Australian and North American supplies. In October 2015 Russian Railways delivered 29.3 million tons of stone thermal coal which is 3.2% more than in October 2014.

From the beginning of 2015 Russia produced 302 million tons of coal which is 5% more than during the same period of 2014. Exports grew 1.2% to 116.9 million tons.

Ministry of Economic Development plans that overall 365 million tons of coal will be produced in Russia in 2015 and in 2018 the production will increase to 370 million tons. Domestic coal consumption is estimated to be 202 million tons (103.5% comparable with 2014). Shipments for power stations will continue to grow.

Russian Railways stated that from the beginning of this year they transported 234.2 million tons of coal which is 2% more than in 2014. Export shipments increased by 2.8% in comparison with 2014. Leading destinations in terms of export growth are South Korea (3.5 times more), China (+37%), Europe (+20%), Turkey (+11%) and India.

Moody’s forecasts the rise of coal prices on world markets from the second half of 2016. But due to dollar and euro exchange rates favorable conditions for the growth of export are in Russia even now. World demand for coal will annually increase by 2.1%.

For the 10 months of 2015 the volume of JSC “Russian Coal” shipments by rail exceeded 10.6 million tons of coal. This is 6.4% more than during the same period of 2014 when 9.9 million tons of coal was shipped by rail.

Leading regions in terms of growth of rail shipments are Krasnoyarsk (+15.7%) and Amur (+5.6%) regions. The largest volume of company’s production transportation, 7 million tons of coal from the beginning of 2015, went by Krasnoyarsk Railways. 2.7 million tons of coal from Amur region was shipped by Trans-Baikal Railway and more than 900 thousand tons of coal was transported by West Siberian Railway.

“The development strategy of JSC “Russian Coal” is based on effective supplies of our production to consumers in Russia and abroad. We are working on the optimization of transport costs in the final price of our products. Considering the forecasts of price stability in the coal market of the Asia-Pacific Region in 2016-2017 one of our main goals is to form an efficient logistics system for deliveries to this region”, – commented the Head of the Department of Logistics JSC “Russian coal” Vyacheslav Abashkin.

The production of JSC “Russian Coal” is consumed in more than 60 regions of Russia and abroad in Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, the Baltic States and APR countries. The main consumers on the domestic market are power generating companies and municipal utilities. Till the end of 2015 JSC “Russian Coal” plans to deliver to consumers 13.3 million tons of coal.

From the beginning of 2015 JSC “Russian Coal” exceed production volume 10 million tons of coal. The highest coal production was reached in Krasnoyarsk (3.9 million tons) and Khakassia (2.9 million tons). These production volumes are the highest for JSC “Russian Coal” since 2005.

The shipment volume of coal production of JCS “Russian Coal” from the beginning of 2015 exceeded 9 million tons which is 7% more than in 2014. The highest terms of growth are in Krasnoyarsk (+18) and Amur (+7%) regions.

The company’s coal shipment volume for the domestic market increased by 4%, while export volume grew by 16%. The volume of coal shipment for power generating companies increased by 12 percent compared to last year results. The products of JSC “Russian Coal” were delivered to 60 regions of Russian and exported to Poland, Baltic States, Bulgaria, Slovenia, China, Japan and South Korea.

Total revenue of JSC “Russian Coal” for the first 9 months of 2015 is about 13.5 billion rubles.

The company will continue to increase the production of high quality coals for export shipment. “Our products have high demand of APR countries. So we will continue our partnership with clients of this region, giving them flexible pricing policy and logistic reliability which are the distinguishing features of our company”, Deputy Director General for Commerce Stanislav Grachev comments.

Coal production in Russia for the first 9 months of 2015 exceeded 267 million tons, which is 5,4% more than production during the same period of 2014. The behavior of the major companies in the market proves that coal mining industry in Russia is not in crisis situation and has reliable internal and external markets as well as promising production capacities.

For the first 9 months of 2015 JSC “Russian Coal” produced 2.9 million tons of coal at coal mine “Stepnoy”, which is situated in Khakassia. The shipment volume from the beginning of the year exceeded 2 million tons of coal.

55% of products were exported, 17% used by municipal utilities and 28% shipped for power generating companies.

In 2015 the system of technological transport at “Stepnoy” was updated. New dump trucks BelAZ, bowsers, earthmovers and commercial vehicles were bought.

Coal mine “Stepnoy”, where high quality D-rank coal is produced, started to operate in 1993. Production capacity of the mine is 5 million tons per year. The coal from “Stepnoy” is exported to Poland, Baltic States, Turkey and China.

In 2011 coal refining plant was put into operation at “Stepnoy”. In 2015 it plans to produce 3.4 million tons of coal. In 2016 production capacity of the plant will be increased till 4.2 million tons.

JSC “Russian coal” in Amur region helped orphanage in Raichihinsk, where coal mine “Severo-vostochniy” operates, to participate in sports and music festival “The Heart of Russia”, which was held 26-28 of September 2015 in Moscow.

Youth football players from orphanages of 15 Russian regions took part in this football competition. Besides, orphans could participate in different contests, interactive games, enjoy the music concert with star headliners and see famous Moscow festival of lights.

The football team of Raichihinsk took 3rd place in their group and 5th team place. “I want to thank Director General of JSC “Russian Coal” Mr. Bilan Uzhakhov for giving us an opportunity to participate in this wonderful festival and his special attention to the orphans ‘problems”, director of Raichihinsk orphanage S.V.Kovaleva commented.

In 2014 coal refining plant of JSC “Russian coal” in Khakassia region produced 3.26 million tons of coal. In 2015 it will produce 3.4 million tons of coal. 80% of production of the plant is exported to Turkey, Poland, Baltic States and China.

Coal refining plant, which is one of the key production assets of JSC “Russian coal”, was launched in 2011. At this time its staff consisted of 50 people. Now twice as much people are working there.

The specialty of this plant is its combination of high technological level together with low production costs. The technology of refining coal with the help of water, which is used at the plant, is very economic and helps not to increase the prime cost.

In June the renovation of the factory was made after which its production capacity significantly grew. Next year JSC “Russian coal” plans to increase production capacity of the plant till 4.2 million tons and after second part of renovation – till 5 million tons of coal per year.

“The market is changing and now we need to refine even small fractions of coal. There is no demand on raw coal, especially among foreign clients. So the growth of production capacity will increase our share of export”, – comments Stanislav Grachev, Deputy Director General for commerce.

In 2015 the share of export from the coal mine “Stepnoy” where the factory works will be 40%. In 2016 after the modernization of refining plant JSC “Russian coal” plans to increase the share of exported coal to 60%.