While there is sparse media coverage of the event, the company said it evacuated 204 people from the Raspadskaya-Koksovaya mine on April 4 and there were no injuries.

The company did not provide many details of the accident, apart from indicating there was a “destruction of stoppings” which isolated a worked-out room of the mine where bord and pillar extraction takes place.

On the evening of the accident, the company noted that “all indicators of the gas regime” were within normal limits and the mine was stabilised.

The accident site has since been inspected and electricity to the mine was switched back on a week ago.

At the time, the company said three blast stoppings were being constructed to further isolate the worked-out room of the accident site.

“Operations at Raspadskaya-Koksovaya mine will be resumed after the final clarification of the circumstances of the accident,” the Russian coal producer said.

“The company will continue to inform of the developments at the enterprise.”

The Raspadskayaâ€ÂKoksovaya mine is the newest in the company’s portfolio and construction efforts to ramp up the operation were taking place before the recent incident.

The company has since announced it has more than 1 billion tonnes of proved and probable reserves at its four mines in the Kemerovo region.

The Raspadskaya longwall mine hosts 617 million tonnes of proved and probable reserves alone, while the Raspadskayaâ€ÂKoksovaya mine has a total of 128Mt in these categories.

Total coking coal production from the Raspadaskaya mine is anticipated to hit 2.5Mt for this calendar year.

But output is forecast to ramp up to 6Mt in 2012, 6.2Mt in 2013, 7Mt in 2014 and 9Mt in 2015.

The Raspadsky open pit is expected to hit 4Mt per annum by 2015.

The MUK-96 underground mine is aiming for 3Mtpa by this deadline, while the Raspadskaya-Koksovaya mine is targeting 2.5Mtpa.