Substantial construction works have been completed on the inclined conveyor barrel of the Vorgashorskaya mine of Vorkutaugol, one of the largest coal mining companies in Russia, subsidiary of Severstal. The company has started the preparation of the coal mine from which coking coal will be mined.
The construction of ICB unit at the Vorgashorskaya mine is Vorkutaugol’s largest investment project. This will largely support the company going forward, as the main coal reserves of GZO are expected to be developed by 2021. However, there are approximately 23 million tons of coking coal which are a more valuable 1ZH grade, located in the southern part of the mine.
Evgeny Balukov, the Executive Director of Vorkutaugol, said: "It was impossible to access these deposits from the mine, so the decision was made to open them using a separate inclined barrel. All this work will enable us to extend the mine life of Vorgashorskaya until 2030. In addition, at a later stage, the ICB will have the opportunity to develop deep mine horizons, to access coal resources".
Three different teams are currently working on building the tunnel for the inclined barrel. One of them is responsible for laying down the conveyer incline which will be the main transport artery for the resources. The other two teams work simultaneously to prepare the lava for a new block. The estimated length will be 300 meters, and the length of the pit is 1.2 kilometers.
Since 2012, Vorkutaugol has invested approximately two billion rubles into the construction of the inclined barrel. During this time, more than one kilometer of the conveyor incline was built, currently an additional 600 meters are being constructed. The purification of coal from the southern block of Vorgashorskaya mine will commence in 2019.
