Interfax reported that SUEK will spend 91.8 million rubles in 2004-2005 to prepare a new seam at the Oktyabrskaya mine, and invest 222 million rubles in new equipment at the Imeni 7 Noyabrya.
The Nadbaikaimsky seam at Oktyabrskaya has commercial reserves of 20.7 million tonnes of coal, SUEK said. Financing of the preparatory work has already begun.
SUEK aims to maintain and increase coal production at Oktyabrskaya to 2 million tonnes per year. This follows an investment of about 39 million rubles in the Oktyabrsky mine last year.
The new equipment at Imeni 7 Noyabrya is expected to boost coal production to 3 million tonnes by 2006.
This mine will get a P-110 tunneling combine from Ukraine's Novokramatorsk Machine-building Plant (NKMZ) and a tunneling complex from the UK's Joy Mining Machinery consisting of a combine with a built-in drilling unit, motorized car, feeder-crusher and the necessary electrical equipment.
The mine's worn-out KGS-445 stripping combine will be replaced by a more powerful KGE-750 model from Poland's Famur. SUEK spent about 50 million rubles last year on the development of this mine.
SUEK controls major coal mines in the Krasnoyarsk and Primorye territories, the Irkutsk, Chita and Kemerovo regions, Buryatia, Khakasia and Sakhalin and controls about 28% of the Russian power-generating coal market.
