Mechel PAO, one of Russia’s leading mining and steel companies, reports that the group’s Southern Kuzbass Coal Company is launching the second section of the longwall 3-1-11’s working area at Sibirginskaya underground mine. Investment topped RUB300 million. Longwall 3-1-11 lies 450 m deep. The new extraction area’s industrial coal reserves are estimated at 1.5 Mt. The working face’s seam height is 4 m, with a length of 220 m and an extraction panel of 1,070 m.

The longwall’s second section is equipped with a cutter-loader, an overloader, a crusher, a 220 m belt conveyor, and a 130-section powered support system. All of the longwall’s equipment is fully compliant with modern safety requirements. “The longwall 3-1-11 with estimated coking coal reserves of 3.5 Mt has been launched in the fall of 2019, and we have already mined over 1 million tonnes of coking coal in its first production area. In the near future, we will begin preparing for mining in its third extraction area, which is due to be launched in late 2022,” Mechel Mining Management OOO’s Chief Executive Officer Igor Khafizov said.