SYKTYVKAR, May 27. /TASS/. The city-forming enterprise in the Komi Region's Vorkuta - the Vorkutaugol Company - plans to create a coal chemical facility to make briquettes from coal processing waste. The plan does not include creating new coal mining or deep processing centers in the region, and the priority is to use existing coal mining enterprises, the local Ministry of Economic Development, Industry and Transport told TASS.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in an article for the Energy Policy magazine wrote that Russia has coal reserves sufficient for more than 500 years, and production may be increased at existing facilities. The priority is to have the environmentally friendly and safe development of reserves, since the Russian coal industry remains a key sector for a number of regions and for the country's economy.
"The Komi Region does not plan so far to create and develop new coal mining centers and industries focused on deep processing of coal to produce high-value-added products using waste, nor to create coal chemical clusters in the near future. The current priority is to keep the current coal production and to extend terms of existing coal mining enterprises. In compliance with Vorkuta's long-term development plan, the key investment project that Vorkutaugol creates is a coal chemical production facility to make briquettes from coal processing waste," the ministry told TASS, however not disclosing the project details.
The open-pit coal mining in the Arctic has been proved as efficient, the ministry continued, and therefore, development priorities would be given to new areas where open-pit mining would be possible.
For domestic metallurgy
The Pechora coal basin ranks second in Russia in terms of coal reserves. It has about 30 coal deposits and coal occurrences, including 11 deposits with proven reserves.
"The development of coal mining centers in the Pechora coal basin" is a task outlined in the strategy for development of the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone for the period up to 2035.
"There are no plans to export Vorkuta coal since the company has a long-term contract with Severstal to supply coal concentrate," the ministry added.
Vorkuta, where 57,000 live, is among 16 Arctic backbone territories. About 6,000 residents are employed with coal mining and auxiliary industries of the Vorkutaugol city-forming enterprise, which has been part of AEON Corporation's Russian Energy since December, 2021. Prior to that, the coal asset was owned by Severstal. Vorkutaugol is Russia's only coal mining company operating in the Far North. Its assets are four underground mines, an open pit, a processing plant, a mechanical plant and a transport enterprise. Vorkuta is one of Russia's largest centers producing coking coal for the metallurgy industry.