SIC Mining Machines, Ukraine’s biggest mining equipment producer, has signed a contract with Vietnamese mining group Vinacomin for the turn-key design and delivery of two shafts at the Nui Beo coal mine, with the equipment tailored to the local geology and the economic targets of the Vietnamese company. Under the contract, the construction is to be completed in 20 months.

“The Vietnamese market is one of our key strategic focus areas. Over the next four years, Vietnam is set to boost its coal output to 75 Mt/y. A 35 Mt/y increase in production will come from underground mining. The contract with Vietnam’s biggest national coal mining company will help us to expand in Vietnam and is an additional proof of the export potential of Ukrainian mining equipment and R&D,” said Mining Machines’ CEO, Yevgeniy Romashchin. Russia’s Lugansk Podzemstroy has been engaged as the contractor to build the shafts. Its specialists have more than 20 years of expertise in mine construction in southeast Asia.

Dnepropetrovsk National Mining University will be a scientific advisor to the deal and deliver training on shaft sinking and equipment to the Vietnamese staff involved in the construction. “We are happy to have partnered with a consortium led by Mining Machines to build facilities important for the country. The Ukrainian bid has a number of advantages that determined our choice: proven experience, tried-and-true technologies, scientific support and reliable equipment. I hope that our further cooperation will bring economic benefits and strengthen the highest-level ties that exist between Ukraine and Vietnam,” said Pham Dyc Hiem, a spokesman from Vinacomin.

SIC Mining Machines has also has signed an equipment supply contract with ArcelorMittal Temirtau in Kazakhstan. Mining Machines will produce a main ventilation fan to be installed in the Tentekskaya coal mine. The contract is worth $3 million, with commissioning due in delivery in late May 2013.