In January, labour teams of Mining Operation Units of Geroiv Kosmosu Mine Group and Pavlograd Mine Group experienced a productive start of the year. Two new coal faces for coal production were commissioned at Geroiv Kosmosu and Ternivska mines. They plan to extract more than 1.2 mln tons of coal from these in order to ensure stable operation of Ukrainian thermal power plants.
On 15 January, miners of the first mining site of Geroiv Kosmosu Mine Group put into operation the 250 meter-long coal face No. 1072 with an excavation capacity of 1.05 m. Within the next 10 months, the site team plans to extract almost 500,000 tons of coal for the Ukrainian energy sector from the new coal face.
“A new coal face is a sustainable scope of works and confidence in the future for our team. We prepared a new face together with the assembling and dismantling works site, while the guys from face equipment repair site, as always, helped with equipment repairs; emergency alarm was tuned by our “automation wizards”. Therefore, the “excellent” grade that the new face was assigned by the state commission is our common success. Right now, we extract some 2.5 ths. tons of coal from it every day. After all, in winter, fuel for thermal generation is in a particular demand,” said Oleksandr Oksen, Foreman of breakage face miner and slope miner site No. 1.
The new 1072 face was equipped with light and sound alarms, as well as human activity sensors that alert the workers that they find themselves in a danger zone and cut off the operation of mechanisms. All to make the miners’ work safer. The face is also equipped with a filtration station, which cleans the working fluid in the hydraulic systems of mechanical fastening of the mechanized complex. And thus, ensures its smooth operation and extends its service life.
And in Pavlograd Mine Group, the new coal face No. 406 started working at Ternivska mine. It is 230 meter-long, the formation excavation capacity being 1.05 m and the planned production is at least two thousand tons per day. The staff of No. 2 coal mining site, led by Oleksandr Yegorov, was entrusted to work out the new coal face. Throughout the year, miners shall be working on the new coal face to extract some 750,000 tons of steam coal.
“For our site to be able to work out the coal face that was entrusted to us in a safe and accurate manner, we have carefully prepared it. We re-assembled the cleansing equipment, checked that all the necessary materials were available, equipped it with the “КД”-80.55 mechanized complex, the “УКД”-200/500 combine and the “СПЦ”-271“м” scraper conveyor. All this equipment was overhauled before the new coal face launch. Now we shall do our best to work in the coal face in a coordinated and trouble-free manner, in order to effectively extract from it the fuel that our country needs so much now. So that Ukraine could strengthen its position in the energy sector and was independent from imported resources,” said Vyacheslav Ivanenko, Mechanic at coal mining site No. 2 of Pavlograd Mine Group.
These enterprises plan to commission some 15 new coal faces in 2021 already. This shall allow DTEK’s miners to contribute to our nation’s energy independence.