LUGANSK, September 21 (Lugansk Media Centre) - The Lugansk People’s Republic Fuel, Energy and Coal Industry Ministry Technical Council decided to relaunch coal production at the Luganskoye company of the Tsentrugol state-owned enterprise.
“On September 19, the Fuel, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Pevel Malgin convened a Technical Council meeting over resuming production at the enterprise,” the Ministry reported. The Technical Council held its previous meeting in August. The September 19 session was attended by Fuel, Energy and Coal Industry Deputy Minister Sergey Chuprin and Luganskaya executives.
“Production will initially resume at the Maschinskiy section (coalmine), due to the fact that the central section sustained serious damage during the fighting in the region,” the Ministry said.
To step up the work amidst the shortage of personnel, a shaft construction company was hired under a three-month contract.
“The Republic’s coal industry has been developing according to a plan. One of the key task facing the LPR Fuel, Energy and Coal Industry Ministry and Tsentrugol is to increase supplies of gas coal to the Zuyevskaya thermal power plant. To fulfil this objective, the coal-mining industry will increase production at the Belorechenskaya mine, resume production at the XIX CPSU Congress colliery and bring its output to the target level. The next stage is to resume production at the Luganskaya mine which contains large gas coal reserves.
After pre-starting works, the company is expected to produce some 600 tons of coal per day with subsequent increase to 1,000 tons per day.
Luganskoye is a coal mining enterprise located in Lugansk’s Yubileinoye neighbourhood. It comprises the Luganskaya and Maschinskaya coalmines linked by tunnels.
The construction of Voroshilogradskaya Mine No 1 with production capacity of 1.5 million tons of coal a year began in 1955. The project was suspended in the early 1960s and the shafts were mothballed. In 1966, the mines was reactivated and the project was carried through. The coalmine was launched on January 11, 1975. After the commissioning of the Maschinskaya coal mine (Maschinskiy section) in June 1990, the colliery was renamed to Luganskoye. During the fighting in Lugansk in 2014, the Lugankaya coalmine was ruined and flooded. The company was later incorporated in the LPR’s Tsentrugol enterprise.
Lugansk area coal industry trade union chairman Alexander Kurochkin said that the Luganskoye company had used its own funds to carry out 80 percent of repairs on the mine headframe and hoisting equipment.
The Tsentrugol enterprise was set up on the back of the property which earlier belonged to the Luganskugol state-owned company.
