Our publications. The largest coal deposits in russia, the most significant basins for the country's economy Coal is mined at

Despite the fact that today alternative energy sources are being used more and more intensively, mining coal is a topical field of industry. One of the most important areas of application of this type of fuel is the operation of power plants. Coal deposits are located in various countries of the world, and 50 of them are active.

World coal deposits

The largest quantities of coal are mined in the United States from deposits in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, Illinois and Alabama, Colorado, Wyoming and Texas. Bituminous and brown coal, as well as anthracite are mined here. Russia is the second largest producer of these minerals.

China is in third place in coal production. The largest Chinese deposits are located in the Shanxing coal basin, in the Great Plain of China, Datong, Yangtze, and others. A lot of coal is also mined in Australia - in the states of Queensland and New South Wales, near the city of Newcastle. India is a major coal producer and deposits are located in the north-east of the country.

The Saar and Saxony, Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg deposits in Germany have been producing hard and brown coal for over 150 years. There are three coal basins in Ukraine: Dnieper, Donetsk, Lvov-Volynsk. Anthracite, gas coal and coking coal are mined here. Quite large-scale coal deposits are located in Canada and Uzbekistan, Colombia and Turkey, North Korea and in Thailand, Kazakhstan and Poland, the Czech Republic and South Africa.

Coal deposits in Russia

A third of the world's coal reserves are located in the Russian Federation. The largest number of deposits is located in the eastern part of the country, in Siberia. The largest Russian deposits coal are as follows:

• Kuznetskoye - a significant part of the basin lies in the Kemerovo region, where about 80% of coking coal and 56% of bituminous coal are mined;
• Kansk-Achinsk basin - 12% of brown coal is mined;
• Tunguska Basin - located in a part of Eastern Siberia, anthracite, brown and hard coal are mined;
• The Pechora Basin is rich in coking coal;
• The Irkutsk-Cheremkhovsky basin is a source of coal for Irkutsk enterprises.

Coal mining is a very promising branch of the economy today. Experts argue that mankind consumes coal too intensively, so there is a threat that soon the world's reserves may be used up, but in some countries there are significant reserves of this mineral. Its consumption depends on the areas of application, and if you reduce the consumption of coal, it will last for a longer time.

The coal mining industry is the largest segment of the fuel industry. All over the world, it surpasses any other in the number of workers and the amount of equipment.

What is the coal industry

The coal mining industry involves the extraction of coal and its subsequent processing. Work is carried out both on the surface and underground.

If the deposits are located at a depth of no more than 100 meters, the work is carried out in a quarry way. For the development of a deposit at great depths, mines are used.

Classic methods of coal mining

Working in coal mines and underground are the main methods of mining. Most of the work in Russia and in the world is carried out open way... This is due to the financial benefit and high speed extraction.

The process is as follows:

• With the help of special equipment, the top layer of the earth covering the deposit is removed. A few years ago, the depth open works was limited to 30 meters, the latest technology allowed to increase it by 3 times. If the top layer is soft and small, remove it with an excavator. A thick and dense layer of earth is pre-crushed.
• Coal deposits are beaten off and taken away with the help of special equipment to the enterprise for further processing.
• The workers are restoring the natural relief to avoid harm to the environment.

The disadvantage of this method is that the coal deposits, which are at a shallow depth, contain impurities of mud and other rocks.

Coal mined by the underground method is considered to be cleaner and of higher quality.

The main task of this method is to transport coal from great depths to the surface. For this, passages are created: an adit (horizontal) and a shaft (inclined or vertical).

In the tunnels, coal seams are cut by special harvesters and loaded onto a conveyor that lifts them to the surface.

The underground method allows you to extract a large amount of minerals, but it has significant disadvantages: high cost and increased danger to workers.

Unconventional methods of coal mining

These methods are effective, but do not have mass distribution - at the moment there are no technologies that allow to clearly establish the process:

• Hydraulic. Extraction is carried out in a mine at great depths. The coal seam is crumbled and delivered to the surface under the strong pressure of water.
• Compressed air energy. It acts as both destructive and lifting force, compressed air is under strong pressure.
• Vibration impulse. The formations are destroyed by the powerful vibrations generated by the equipment.

These methods were used back in the Soviet Union, but did not become popular due to the need for large financial investments... Only a few coal mining companies continue to use unconventional methods.

Their main advantage is the absence of workers in potentially life-threatening areas.

Leading countries in coal mining

According to the statistics of the world energy, a rating of the countries holding the leading positions in coal production in the world has been compiled:

1. India.
2. Australia.
3. Indonesia.
4. Russia.
5. Germany.
6. Poland.
7. Kazakhstan.

For many years, China has been the leader in terms of coal production. In the PRC, only 1/7 of the available deposits are being developed, this is due to the fact that coal is not exported outside the country, and the available reserves will last at least 70 years.

On the territory of the United States, deposits are evenly scattered throughout the country. They will provide the country with their reserves for at least 300 years.

The coal deposits in India are very rich, but almost all of the coal mined is used in the energy industry, since the available reserves are of very low quality. Despite the fact that India occupies one of the leading positions, artisanal methods of coal mining are progressing in this country.

Australia's coal reserves will last for about 240 years. The mined coal has the highest quality rating, a significant part of it is destined for export.

In Indonesia, the level of coal production is growing every year. A few years ago, most of the mined was exported to other countries, now the country is gradually abandoning the use of oil, and therefore the demand for coal for domestic consumption is growing.

Russia possesses 1/3 of the world's coal reserves, while not all of the country's lands have been explored.

Germany, Poland and Kazakhstan are gradually reducing the volume of coal production due to the uncompetitive cost of raw materials. Most of the coal is for domestic consumption.

The main places of coal mining in Russia

Let's figure it out. Coal mining in Russia is carried out mainly by open pit mining. Deposits across the country are scattered unevenly - most of them are located in the eastern region.

The most significant coal deposits in Russia are:

• Kuznetskoe (Kuzbass). It is considered the largest not only in Russia, but throughout the world, located in Western Siberia... Coking and bituminous coal is mined here.
• Kansko-Achinskoe. Production is carried out here. The field is located along the Trans-Siberian Railway, occupying part of the territories of the Irkutsk and Kemerovo Regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory.
• Tunguska coal basin. It is represented by brown and hard coal. It covers part of the territory of the Republic of Sakha and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
• Pechora coal basin. Mining is carried out at this deposit Work is carried out in the mines, which allows the extraction of high-quality coal. Located in the territories of the Komi Republic and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
• Irkutsk-Cheremkhovsky coal basin. It is located on the territory of the Upper Sayan. Provides coal only to nearby enterprises and settlements.

Today, 5 more fields are being developed that can increase the annual volume of coal production in Russia by 70 million tons.

Coal Industry Outlook

Most of the coal deposits in the world have already been explored, from an economic point of view, the most promising belong to 70 countries. The level of coal production is growing rapidly: technologies are being improved, equipment is being modernized. This increases the profitability of the industry.

The range of its use is very wide. Coal is used to generate electricity, as an industrial raw material (coke), for the production of graphite, for the production of liquid fuel by hydrogenation.

Russia has vast reserves of coal deposits and coal basins.

The coal basin is the area (often over 10 thousand square kilometers) of the development of coal-bearing deposits, formed under certain conditions during a certain period time. The coal deposit has a smaller area and is a separate tectonic structure.

Platform, folded and transitional basins are found on the territory of Russia.

The largest amount of coal deposits was found in the territory of Western and Eastern Siberia.

60% of Russian coal reserves are humus coals, including coking coal (Karaganda, Yuzhno-Yakutsk, Kuznetsk basin). Meet and brown coals(Ural, Eastern Siberia, Moscow region).

Coal reserves are scattered across 25 coal basins and 650 separate deposits.

Coal mining is carried out in a closed or open way. Closed mining is carried out in mines, open-pit mining - in open pits (open-pit mines).

The mine has been operating for an average of 40-50 years. Each layer of coal is removed from the mine for about 10 years, followed by the development of a deeper layer through reconstruction. Reconstruction of the mine horizons is a prerequisite to preserve the environment and ensure the safety of workers.

In the open-pit coal mines, coal is excavated in successive strips.

For the period of 2010 coal in Russia was mined in 91 mines and 137 open-pit mines. The total annual capacity was 380 million tonnes.

After coal is mined in mines or open-pit mines, it goes directly to the consumer or is sent to coal enrichment enterprises.

In special factories, pieces of coal are sorted by size and then processed.

The enrichment process is the purification of fuel from waste rock and impurities.

Today coal in Russia is mined mainly in the territory and 10 main basins. The largest deposit of hard and coking coal is the Kuznetsk Basin (Kemerovo Region), brown coal is mined in the Kansk-Achinsk Basin ( Krasnoyarsk region, Eastern Siberia), Anthracites - in the Gorlovka basin and in the Donbass.

The coal in these pools is of the highest quality.

Other well-known coal basins in Russia include the Pechora Basin (Arctic), the Irkutsk-Cheremkhovsky Basin in the Irkutsk Region, and the South Yakutsk Basin in the Far East.

The Taimyr, Lensky and Tunguska basins are being actively developed in Eastern Siberia, as well as deposits in the Trans-Baikal Territory, Primorye, and the Novosibirsk Region.

The largest branch (in terms of the number of workers and the cost of production fixed assets) of the fuel industry is coal mining in Russia.

The coal industry extracts, processes (enriches) coal, brown coal and anthracite.

How and how much coal is produced in the Russian Federation

This mineral is mined depending on the depth of its location: by open (in open-pit) and underground (in mines) methods.

During the period from 2000 to 2015, underground production increased from 90.9 to 103.7 million tons, and open-pit production increased by more than 100 million tons from 167.5 to 269.7 million tons. The amount of fossil mined in the country during this period, broken down by production method, is shown in Fig. one.

Rice. 1: Coal production in the Russian Federation from 2000 to 2015 by production method, in mln.

According to the Fuel and Energy Complex (FEC) in the Russian Federation, 385 million tons of black minerals were produced in 2016, which is 3.2% higher than the previous year. This allows us to draw a conclusion about the positive dynamics of the industry's growth in recent years and about the prospects, despite the crisis.

The types of this mineral, mined in our country, are divided into power-generating and coking coals.

In the total volume for the period from 2010 to 2015, the share of energy production increased from 197.4 to 284.4 million tons. The volumes of coal production in Russia by type, see Fig. 2.

2: Structure of coal production in the Russian Federation by types for 2010-2015, in million tons

How much black fossil is in the country and where is it mined

According to Rosstat, the Russian Federation(157 billion.

tons) ranks second after the United States (237.3 billion tons) in the world in terms of coal reserves. The Russian Federation accounts for about 18% of all world reserves. See figure 3.

Rice. 3: World reserves by leading countries

Rosstat information for 2010-2015 indicates that production in the country is carried out in 25 constituent entities of the Federation in 7 Federal Districts.

There are 192 coal enterprises. Among them are 71 mines and 121 open-pit mines. Their cumulative productive capacity is 408 million tons. More than 80% of it is mined in Siberia. Coal production in Russia by region is shown in Table 1.

In 2016, 227 400 thousand.

tons were mined in the Kemerovo region (such cities with one industry affiliation are called monocities), of which about 125,000 tons were exported.

Kuzbass accounts for about 60% of domestic coal production, there are about 120 mines and open-pit mines.

At the beginning of February 2017, a new open-pit mine, Trudarmeysky Yuzhny, with a design capacity of 2,500 thous.

In 2017, it is planned to produce 1,500 thousand tons of minerals at the open pit, and, according to forecasts, the open pit will reach its design capacity in 2018. Also, in 2017, three new enterprises are planned to be launched in Kuzbass.

Largest deposits

On the territory of the Russian Federation there are 22 coal basins (according to Rosstat information for 2014) and 129 separate deposits.

More than 2/3 of the reserves that have already been explored are concentrated in the Kansk-Achinsk (79.3 billion tons) and Kuznetsk (53.4 billion tons) basins. They are located in the Kemerovo Region of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Also among the largest pools are: Irkutsk, Pechora, Donetsk, Yuzhno-Yakutsk, Minusinsky, and others.

Figure 4 shows the structure of proven reserves by major basins.

Rice. 4: Explored reserves for the main basins in Russia, billion tons.

Import Export

The Russian Federation is among the top three largest exporters coal after Australia (export volume 390 mln.

tons) and Indonesia (330 million tons) in 2015. The share of Russia in 2015 - 156 million tons of black fossil was exported. This figure for the country has grown by 40 million tons in five years. In addition to the Russian Federation, Australia and Indonesia, the six leading countries include the United States of America, Colombia and South Africa.

The structure of world exports is shown in Fig. 5.

Rice. 5: Structure of world exports (largest exporting countries).

The Central Dispatch Office of the Fuel and Energy Complex reports that in 2016 the total volume of exports from the country increased, while imports decreased.

Data on export-import in 2016 are presented in Table 2.

Head of the Information and Analytical Division of the Department of Coal and Peat Industry of the Ministry of Energy of the country V.

Grishin predicts an increase in exports by 6% in 2017, its volume may reach 175 million tons, that is, increase by 10 million tons.

Which companies are the largest manufacturers

Large oil companies Everyone knows Russia, and the largest coal producing companies in the country in 2016 are: OJSC SUEK (105.47), Kuzbassrazrezugol (44.5), SDS-coal (28.6), Vostsibugol (13.1), Yuzhny Kuzbass (9), Yuzhkuzbassugol (11.2), Yakutugol (9.9), Raspadskaya OJSC (10.5), the amount of coal produced is indicated in parentheses in million tons, see

Rice. 6. Largest manufacturers in the Russian Federation in 2016, mln.

The companies OJSC SUEK, Kuzbassrazrezugol and SDS-Ugol have been leaders in production over the past years.

The largest manufacturers for 2014-2015 are shown in Fig.

7. Among them, in addition to the two above-mentioned industry leaders, there are also processing enterprises: Kuzbass Fuel Company, Holding Sibuglement, Vostsibugol, Russian Coal, EVRAZ (one of the largest private companies in the country), Mechel-Mining, SDS-coal.

7. Largest producers in the Russian Federation for 2014-2015, in million tons.

In November 2016, Evgeny Kosmin's team of section No. 1 of the V.D.

Yalevsky JSC SUEK-Kuzbass set a new Russian production record for the year from one working face - 4,810 thousand tons.

Results and conclusions

• The coal complex of Russia is actively developing.
• Imports have declined slightly in recent years, while exports and production have grown.
• In terms of exports, the Russian Federation is one of the three leading countries after Australia and Indonesia.
• In the coming years, it is planned to open new mining and processing enterprises.
• The three leaders include companies from the Siberian region, which accounts for more than 80% of production from the total volume of the country.

Lyudmila Poberezhnykh, 2017-03-29

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Related References

Coal basins of Russia

The role of this or that coal basin in the territorial division of labor depends on the quality of the coal, the size of the reserves, the technical and economic indicators of production, the degree of preparedness of the reserves for industrial exploitation, the size of production, and the peculiarities of the transport and geographical location.

By the combination of these conditions, interdistrict coal bases- Kuznetsk and Kansk-Achinsk basins, which together account for 70% of coal production in Russia, as well as the Pechora, Donetsk, Irkutsk-Cheremkhov and South Yakutsk basins.
The most important coal producer in Russia is the Kuznetsk Coal Basin.

Kuznetsk Basin

The balance reserves of Kuzbass hard coal of the A + B + C1 category are estimated at 57 billion tons, which is 58.8% of Russia's hard coal.

At the same time, the reserves of coking coal amount to 30.1 billion tons, or 73% of all reserves of the country.

Almost the entire range of coal grades is mined in Kuzbass. The bowels of Kuzbass are rich in other minerals, such as manganese, iron, phosphorite, nepheline ores, oil shale and other minerals.

Kuznetsk coals are of high quality: ash content 8-22%, sulfur content 0.3-0.6%, specific heat combustion - 6000 - 8500 kcal / kg.

The average depth of underground mining reaches 315m.
About 40% of the coal produced is consumed in the Kemerovo region itself and 60% is exported to other regions of Russia and for export.
In the structure of coal exports from Russia, Kuzbass accounts for over 70% of its physical volume.
High quality coal, including coking coal, is found here. Almost 12% of mining is carried out in an open pit.
Belovsky District is one of the oldest coal mining areas in Kuzbass.

The balance reserves of coal of the Belovsky region are more than 10 billion.

tons.
The development of the Kuznetsk coal basin began in 1851 with more or less regular production of fuel at the Bachatskaya mine for the Guryevsky metallurgical plant. The Bachat mine was located six versts northeast of the village of Bachaty. Now at this place are the mines "Chertinskaya - Koksovaya", "Novaya-2" and the open pit "Novobochatsky".
Firstborn coal industry The town of Belova is considered to be the Pionerka mine. the first ton of coal was mined here.

At present, the Belovsky District is the largest coal mining region in the Kuzbass.
The geographic center of the Kemerovo region is located in the Belovsky district.
The main centers are Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, Prokopyevsk, Anzhero-Sudzhensk, Belovo, Leninsk-Kuznetskiy.

The Kansk-Achinsk Basin is located in the south of Eastern Siberia in the Krasnoyarsk Territory along the Trans-Siberian Railway and provides 12% of coal production in Russia.

Brown coal from this basin is the cheapest in the country, since it is mined in an open pit. Because of Low quality coal is not easily transportable and therefore powerful thermal power plants operate on the basis of the largest open-pit mines (Irsha-Borodinsky, Nazarovsky, Berezovsky).

The Pechora Basin is the largest in the European part and accounts for 4% of the country's coal production.

It is remote from the most important industrial centers and is located in the Arctic Circle; production is carried out only by the mine method. In the northern part of the basin (Vorkuta, Vorgashorskoe deposits), coking coal is mined, in the southern part (Intinskoe deposit) - mainly energy.

The main consumers of Pechora coal are the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant, enterprises of the North-West, Center and Central Black Earth Region.

The Donetsk Basin in the Rostov Region is the eastern part of the coal basin located in Ukraine.

It is one of the oldest coal mining areas. The mine method of mining led to the high cost of coal. Coal production is decreasing every year, and in 2007 the basin gave only 2.4% of all-Russian production.

The Irkutsk-Cheremkhovsky Basin in the Irkutsk Region provides a low cost of coal, since mining is carried out in an open pit and gives 3.4% of the country's coal.

Due to the great distance from large consumers, it is used at local power plants.

The South Yakutsk Basin (3.9% of the total Russian production) is located in the Far East. It possesses significant reserves of energy and technological fuel, and all production is carried out in an open pit.

The prospective coal basins include Lensky, Tungusky and Taimyrsky, located beyond the Yenisei to the north of the 60th parallel.

They occupy vast areas in underdeveloped and sparsely populated areas of Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

In parallel with the creation of coal bases of interregional significance, there was extensive development of local coal basins, which made it possible to bring coal mining closer to the regions of its consumption. At the same time, in the western regions of Russia, coal production is decreasing (the Moscow region), and in the eastern regions, it is sharply increasing (deposits of the Novosibirsk region, the Trans-Baikal Territory, Primorye.

Coal is a sedimentary rock that forms in the earth's seam. Coal is an excellent fuel. It is believed that this is the most ancient species fuel that our distant ancestors used.

How bituminous coal is formed

For the formation of coal, it is necessary great amount plant mass. And it is better if the plants accumulate in one place and do not have time to decompose completely. The ideal place for this is swamps. The water in them is poor in oxygen, which interferes with the vital activity of bacteria.

Vegetation accumulates in the swamps. Not having time to completely rot, it is compressed by the following soil deposits. This is how peat is obtained - the starting material for coal. The next layers of soil, as it were, seal the peat in the ground. As a result, it is completely deprived of oxygen and water access and turns into a coal seam. This process is lengthy. So, most of the modern reserves of coal were formed in the Paleozoic era, that is, more than 300 million years ago.

Characteristics and types of coal

(Brown coal)

The chemical composition of coal depends on its age.

The youngest species is brown coal. It lies at a depth of about 1 km. There is still a lot of water in it - about 43%. Contains a large amount volatile matter... It ignites well and burns, but gives little heat.

Coal is a kind of "middle peasant" in this classification. It occurs at depths of up to 3 km. Since the pressure of the upper layers is higher, the water content in coal is less - about 12%, volatiles - up to 32%, but carbon contains from 75% to 95%. It is also highly flammable but burns better. And due to the small amount of moisture, it gives more heat.

Anthracite- an older breed. It occurs at a depth of about 5 km. It has more carbon and virtually no moisture. Anthracite - solid fuel, is poorly flammable, but the specific heat of combustion is the highest - up to 7400 kcal / kg.

(Coal anthracite)

However, anthracite is not the final stage of transformation. organic matter... When exposed to more severe conditions, coal is transformed into shuntite. At higher temperatures, graphite is obtained. And under ultra-high pressure, coal turns into diamond. All these substances - from plants to diamonds - are made of carbon, only the molecular structure is different.

In addition to the main "ingredients", various "rocks" are often included in the composition of coal. These are impurities that do not burn, but form a slag. Sulfur is also contained in coal, and its content is determined by the place of coal formation. When burned, it reacts with oxygen to form sulfuric acid. The less impurities in the composition of coal, the higher its grade is valued.

Coal deposit

The place of occurrence of coal is called a coal basin. More than 3.6 thousand coal basins are known in the world. Their area occupies about 15% of the earth's land area. The United States has the largest percentage of the world's coal reserves at 23%, followed by Russia at 13%. China closes the top three with 11%. The largest coal deposits in the world are located in the United States. This is the Appalachian coal basin, whose reserves exceed 1,600 billion tons.

In Russia, the largest coal basin is Kuznetsk, in the Kemerovo region. Kuzbass reserves amount to 640 billion tons.

The development of deposits in Yakutia (Elginskoe) and in Tyva (Elegestskoe) is promising.

Coal mining

Depending on the depth of the coal, either a closed mining method or an open one is used.

Closed or underground mining method. For this method, mine shafts and adits are built. Shafts are built if the depth of coal is 45 meters or more. A horizontal tunnel leads from it - an adit.

There are 2 closed-pit mining systems: chamber-and-pillar mining and longwall mining. The first system is less economical. It is used only in cases where the layers found are thick. The second system is much safer and more practical. It allows you to extract up to 80% of the rock and evenly deliver the coal to the surface.

The open method is used when the coal is shallow. To begin with, an analysis of the hardness of the soil is carried out, the degree of weathering of the soil and the layering of the covering layer are determined. If the soil above the coal seams is soft, use of bulldozers and scrapers is sufficient. If the top layer is thick, then excavators and draglines are brought in. A thick layer of hard rock overlying the coal is blown up.

Application of hard coal

The area of ​​use of coal is simply enormous.

Sulfur, vanadium, germanium, zinc, lead are mined from coal.

Coal itself is an excellent fuel.

It is used in metallurgy for iron smelting, in the production of cast iron, steel.

Ash obtained after burning coal is used in the production of building materials.

After special treatment of coal, benzene and xylene are obtained, which are used in the production of varnishes, paints, solvents, and linoleum.

By liquefying coal, a first-class liquid fuel is obtained.

Coal is a raw material for producing graphite. As well as naphthalene and a number of other aromatic compounds.

As a result of the chemical treatment of coal, over 400 types of industrial products are obtained today.

The main tasks facing the coal industry include mining and primary processing (enrichment) of hard and brown coal. Coal mining is the largest of all branches of the fuel industry in terms of the number of personnel and the cost of fixed assets. Such a constituent entity of the Russian Federation as the Kemerovo Region owes its economic potential to the coal industry to a large extent. Coal basins of Russia

On the territory of Russia there are deposits of various types of coal - brown, bituminous and anthracite. The Russian Federation occupies one of the leading places in the world in terms of the amount of fossil fuel in the subsoil. The total amount of coal is 6421 billion tons, 5334 billion tons of them are conditioned.

The amount of coal in the total reserves is more than 60% of all reserves. Process fuel - coking coal - occupies 10% of the total volume of reserves, 3.6% of the gross product falls on the share of coal production in the fuel and energy complex, and in the total volume of Russia's GDP, this industry accounts for about one percent.

The amount of coal consumed by the Russian domestic market increased by 2.3% and amounted to 178 million tons. Of these, 38 million tons were consumed for coking, and power engineers consumed 140 million tons.

If we look at the map of Russia, then more than 90% of the deposits are located in the east of the country, mainly in Siberia. If we compare the production volumes, then the most significant deposits for the country can be called the Kuznetskoye, Kansko-Achinskoye, Tunguskoye, Pechora and Irkutsko-Cheremkhovskoye fields.

In the world, in terms of the volume of coal mined, Russia occupies the fifth place (ahead of China, the United States of America, Australia and India), 75% of the produced fuel is used by power engineers in the production of heat and electricity, 25% is used for the needs of the metallurgical and chemical industries.

A small percentage of the total production is exported. The main export markets are Japan and the Republic of Korea.

In Russia, the main method is open pit mining - 75% of the total. The use of the open method is due to the shallow depth of occurrence. To use this mining method, you need to remove the top layers of the soil. For opening, bulldozers, scrapers, bucket wheel excavators, draglines are used.

Then the rock is crushed. For crushing, water cannons, crushers are used, sometimes drilling-and-blasting methods of breaking coal are used. Mining in this way occupies a fairly large area of ​​the territory.

Open pit coal mining has the following positive sides:

• production of a unit of production occurs in a short time interval;
• low cost;
• relative safety;

Flaws:

Coal mined by the open method contains a large percentage of impurities.

Mine production is more costly. The application is due to the occurrence of layers of useful rock at great depths. The arrangement of mines requires large capital expenditures as in financial plan and temporarily. When coal is mined in mines, there is a large share of manual labor... Some of the mines are up to one kilometer deep.

Advantages:

• high quality of the extracted raw materials;
• less impact on environment;

Flaws:

• the most unsafe mining method;
• serious financial investments are required.

The largest deposits in Russia

Kuzbass

The Kuznetsk coal basin, or Kuzbass for short, is the largest deposit in terms of coal reserves in the Russian Federation, and the largest in the world. It is located in the West of Siberia.

The main part of the basin is located in the Kemerovo region. Kuzbass produces 56% of hard coal and about 80% of coking coal mined in the Russian Federation, in the total amount of two hundred million tons per year.

In the Kuznetsk Basin, the coals are different in quality. Coal with a higher quality lies deeper, and the closer to the surface the ash content and moisture content of the coal increases. Long distances from the main fuel consumers - the central part of the country, Kamchatka and Sakhalin, is the main disadvantage. The production is carried out by the open method.

Kansk-Achinsk basin

This pool is located in central Siberia. The main type of coal mined is brown coal, which is widely used in power engineering. It is mined by open pit mining.

The amount of coal reserves is 638 billion tons, fuel is used by local power plants to generate electricity and heat. A significant part of the extracted mineral is used at the thermal power station of the Irkutsk energy system. The largest consumers of the Kansk-Achinsk coal are thermal power plants located in the cities:

• Krasnoyarsk;
• Abakan;
• Sunny;
• Zheleznogorsk.

Of no small importance for the basin is the presence of the Trans-Siberian railway, along which coal is transported, both in the western direction of the country (for the needs of the Ryazan State District Power Plant) and to the Far East.

Tunguska basin

The largest coal deposits

Due to the lack of access roads and remoteness from industrial centers, it is not used at full capacity. The main consumer of coal is the constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Pechora coal basin

It is located on the western slope of the Pai-Khoi ridge. Administratively located in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Komi Republic.

In the depths of the basin, there are mainly high quality coking coals. Extraction is carried out using the mine method.

Annual production of 12.6 million tons of coal, which is 4% of the total amount of coal mined in Russia. The Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant is the largest consumer.

Irkutsk-Cheremkhovsky basin

The Irkutsk coal basin covers an area of ​​42.7 thousand km². The amount of coal in the bowels of the basin is 9 billion tons, of which 94% is coal, brown coal accounts for the remaining 6%.

The thickness of the layers is from one to ten meters. Long distances from large consumers do not allow the use of mined coal, except in local power plants. An open method is used for the extraction of fuel.

Impact on the environment

The nature of the problems of environmental impact of the coal mining sector is mainly related to mining operations. Especially in open pit mining. During blasting operations, tons of dust are raised into the sky, and are carried by the wind for many kilometers. More than fifty percent of coal mines are classified as explosive, and the danger of spontaneous combustion is also high. coal dust.

When working underground, there is a high probability of land subsidence, which can be prevented. When mining minerals, the voids formed underground must be filled with valueless rock or other materials.

Many countries around the world are already successfully using this technology. First of all, in those countries where standards and programs for the remediation of areas where mining operations were carried out have been adopted.

Each business entity in the extraction of fossil fuel must comply with the safety requirements adopted in the mining industry. Failure to follow these rules can lead to very dangerous consequences:

• during mining, changes in the landscape are possible;
• the development of soil erosion associated with subsidence of the earth's surface, the soil cover is disturbed;
• there is a deterioration in the quality of air and water;
• underground coal mining produces methane emissions;
• underground fires;
• spontaneous combustion in dumps;
• shedding of slopes;

To minimize environmental impacts, each entity economic activity a coal mining and processing company should contribute to solving this problem.

Video: Coal. Modern coal mining!