The Russian mining and steel producing group Mechel has stated that within the current year it plans to complete the construction of the remaining 200 km of the 300-km railway to the giant Elga coal deposit in the Sakha Republic of eastern Russia.
The development of the Elga coal field will start in September this year, with a total project cost of about $2 billion.
This year one million mt of coal is expected to be produced at the Elga mine. By 2021 the mine is expected to reach an annual output of 27 million mt. The Elga deposit's coal reserves are estimated at about 2.1 billion mt of coking coal and power-generating coal. The coal produced will be exported through the port of Vanino in the Khabarovsk region to countries of the Asia-Pacific region.