Raspadskaya Coal Company (Raspadskaya), the second largest coking coal producer in Russia and a subsidiary of domestic steelmaker Evraz Group, plans to produce over 500,000 mt of concentrate per month from the first quarter of 2011, allowing it to resume exports which were stopped following the accident at its Raspadskaya mine in May this year, Raspadskaya's CE Gennady Kozovoy has said in an interview given to the Russian newspaper Vedomosti.
"The domestic market consumes about 450,000-500,000 mt of our concentrate per month, and, if there is the possibility to add more, we have to look for sales markets abroad...This is likely in the first quarter of 2011, if everything goes to plan," Mr. Kozovoy said.
Mr. Kozovoy also noted that he sees no problems with the restoration of coal sales in the Russian market. "The market is growing...For metals, demand is stable with an upward trend. Consequently, there will also be demand for coal. Prices may rise, but not significantly," he said.
According to Mr. Kozovoy, the pre-accident production levels at Raspadskaya mine will not be restored until 2012, but some operations there are planned to be restarted in Q4. In 2011, the company plans to increase coal output at Raspadskaya open-pit to three million mt and to produce the first million mt of coal at its Koksovaya mine acquired in April 2010.