The Arctic Mining Company, a subdivision of coal company Vostok-Ugol, has begun mining one of the world’s largest high-quality coal deposits on the Taimyr Peninsula in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, TASS reports, citing Head of Taimyr Municipal District Ildar Dzhurayev.
“Taimyr is home to Taibass, one of the largest anthracite coal deposits in the world,” Dzhurayev said. “Today, Arctic Mining Company, the biggest investor in the project, has begun the large undertaking of mining the coal and transporting it to Europe via the Northern Sea Route.”
TASS said that a test lot of 20,000 tons of coal has already been shipped to Europe via the Northern Sea Route. Earlier, Vostok-Ugol announced plans to upgrade the seaport of Dikson in Taimyr to increase its throughput capacity. Talks with investors in the project are in the concluding phase. The project requires an estimated 5 billion rubles.
Dzhurayev said that this project will boost Dikson’s population by 1,500-2,000 people. “I’m sure that Dikson will grow and become a hub for Russia’s coal industry,” he said.
Vostok-Ugol began mining operations in the Taibass region last year and plans to bring production up to 1 million metric tons this year. The company plans to produce 3 million tons of anthracite coal at the Malaya Lemberova River field, it has been developing, by next year. By 2020, the company expects to increase the number of fields in operation and increase production in the Arctic to 30 million metric tons. The Malaya Lemberova River field, for which Vostok-Ugol holds a licence, is estimated at 600 million metric tons in coal reserves.
source: arcitc.ru
