The Russian coal mining company Belon Group (Belon) has announced the commissioning of its Novobachatsky open-pit mine.
The Novobachatsky site will allow Belon to develop two subsoil plots at once, Novobachatsky and Novobachatsky-3, with total reserves of coal of grades K, KS and KO amounting to 15 million mt.
The combined production capacity of the two plots is expected to be 500,000 mt per year. The total investment in the Novobachatsky open-pit site with the two subsoil plots is worth Ruble 1.238 billion (approx. $51.9 million).
As Belon Group President A.P. Dobrov stated, the company plans to commission one more open pit, Novobachatsky-2, with the prospect of starting the development of the coal reserves at the Prisalairskaya Polosa site in the Kemerova region under the license obtained by Belon this year. With its three subsoil plots including Novobachatsky-2, the company is expected to reach a total annual coal production of 850,000 mt by the end of the current year.