The Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych met with the country's Coal Industry Minister Sergey Tulub yesterday, December 12, to discuss the
construction of seven new coal mines in the Donetsk, Luhanks and Lvov regions of
Ukraine, an official release from
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has stated.
Mr. Tulub said during yesterday's meeting that the opening of seven new coal mines would provide an additional 17.7 million metric tons of coal for the country, 70 percent of which will be energy coal.
Speaking on the issue, Prime Minister Yanukovych said that the commencement of work at the coal mines would allow
Ukraine to reduce its use of natural gas by supplementing it with high quality coal.
The new mines will be the first to be built in
Ukraine in the last 25 years.