The Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine, Sergey Yermilov said the situation would improve and by year end production was expected to reach last years level of 80-81 million tons.
Coal mines received about US$62 million of State subsidies in the first five month of the year. The first stage of reorganizing the national coal industry has been completed. Minister Yermilov said that key objective of reform was to attract private investment into coal companies.
“I am for private mines. The State should not bear this burden for ever”, he said.
The World Bank has recently given its recommendations to the Ukrainian coal industry. The main recommendation is for state control to be retained over coal mines because of their difficult geologic conditions and to attract investments through renting, management or concession. It also noted that the national coal industry is characterised by poor effectiveness, inadequate transparency and sometimes the prevalence of private interests over state ones.
The preliminary results of the first stage of the Mines Technical Modernisation Program were made public. They are impressive. In the opinion of technical specialists, Ukraine now can manufacture mining machines to world level standards with resources, reliability and productivity 2-3 times better than existing methods.
The realisation of the Program will decrease coal costs by 30% and improve safety immeasurably, to increase coal production by 40 million tons in five years. Donetsk region governor Anatoly Bliznuk said that these achievements of national mining plants were based on investment-innovation models.
Recently, Ukrainian Yasinovatsky plant supplied two loaders 1PPN-5Ya to Vietnam coal industry with another 9 units due for shipping later this summer. Presently mining machines of the Yasinovatsky plant work in 30 countries of the world.
Another manufacturer of the Ukrainian machine-building industry – Novokramatorsky plant – secured an order to manufacture 7 winders for Russian, Kazahstan and Byelorussian companies in the first part of the year, valued at several millions of US dollars.
