Samarska Coal Mine, near Ternivka

Coal mining has historically been an important industry in Ukraine.[1][2] Coal mining in Ukraine is often associated with coal-rich Donets basin. However this is not the only coal mining region, other being Lviv-Volhynian basin and Dnieper brown coal mining basin. The Donets basin located in the eastern Ukraine is the most developed and much bigger coal mining region in the country.

Ukraine was until recently, the third largest coal producer in Europe.[3] In 1976, national production was 218 million metric tonnes. By 2016, production had dropped to 41 million metric tonnes. The Donets Black Coal Basin in the eastern Ukraine, with 90% of the nation's reserves, suffers from three connected problems: (1) mines are not profitable enough to sustain capital investment, resulting in twenty-year old mining equipment and processes, (2) the government, taking advice from the International Monetary Fund, has discontinued $600 million annual mining subsidies, and (3) the Ukrainian government refuses to buy from mines controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.

History

A 1921 Russian poster, with the caption Donbass is the heart of Russia

Coal mining began in Ukraine in 1870. In 1913, Donetz produced 87% of the coal in the Russian Empire. It produced 50% of the metallurgical coal of the USSR. Like other Soviet enterprises, coal companies provided social facilities including schools and hospitals

Coal reserves

Ukraine's coal reserves are estimated at 60 billion tonnes, of which 23 billion are proven and probable, and 10 billion tonnes are economically extractable.[4][5] According to the Ukrainian mining trade union, coal constitutes 95% of Ukraine's domestic energy resources.[6]

Ninety percent of Ukraine's coal reserves are located in the Donets Coalfield (easternmost part of the country).[4] Control of this portion of the country is disputed. Russian-backed rebels claim sovereignty over the region. Mid-March 2017 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on a temporary ban on the movement of goods to and from territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic meaning that since then Ukraine does not buy coal from the Donets Black Coal Basin.[7]

Two other coalfields include one in the northwest, the Lviv-Volhynian Coalfield, between Lviv and Volodymyr-Volynskyi.[4] Another, the Dnieper Coalfield in central Ukraine, offers lignite (brown coal), but the mining of lignite stalled in the 1990s.

Coal mining

Coal production in Ukraine, million tonnes[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
Year1860186118621863186418651866186718681869
Coal, millions of tonnesna0.1↑nananananananana
Year1870187118721873187418751876187718781879
Coal, millions of tonnesnananananananananana
Year1880188118821883188418851886188718881889
Coal millions of tonnes1.3↑1.4↑1.6↑1.6↑nananananana
Year1890189118921893189418951896189718981899
Coal, millions of tonnes2.9↑nanananananananana
Year1900190119021903190419051906190719081909
Coal, millions of tonnes11.3↑nanananananananana
Year1910191119121913191419151916191719181919
Coal, millions of tonnes16.3↑nana22.5↑24.0↑23.0↓24.5↑22.0↓6.3↓4.5↓
Year1920192119221923192419251926192719281929
Coal, millions of tonnes4.0↓4.0↓6.0↑7.0↑11.3↑11.3↑18.3↑22.0↑22.5↑25.0↑
Year1930193119321933193419351936193719381939
Coal, millions of tonnes33.0↑36.7↑41.2↑44.0↑53.0↑59.8↑67.0↑67.2↑69.3↑70.9↑
Year1940194119421943194419451946194719481949
Coal, millions of tonnes76.2↑57.2↓2.2↓2.6↑16.3↑30.3↑37.5↑45.0↑54.9↑65.0↑
Year1950195119521953195419551956195719581959
Coal, millions of tonnes78.0↑81.2↑88.8↑95.6↑104.6↑120.3↑132.6↑152.1↑164.2↑167.3↑
Year1960196119621963196419651966196719681969
Coal, millions of tonnes172.1↑171.4↓175.1↑179.7↑187.1↑194.3↑196.4↑199.0↑200.4↑204.4↑
Year1970197119721973197419751976197719781979
Coal, millions of tonnes207.1↑209.4↑211.2↑212.6↑213.7↑215.7↑218.2↑217.1↓210.9↓204.7↓
Year1980198119821983198419851986198719881989
Coal, millions of tonnes197.1↓191.1↓194.1↑190.9↓190.8↓189.0↓193.0↑192.0↓191.7↓180.2↓
Year1990199119921993199419951996199719981999
Coal, millions of tonnes164.8↓135.6↓133.6↓115.7↓94.4↓83.6↓74.8↓75.6↑76.2↑81.1↑
Year2000200120022003200420052006200720082009
Coal, millions of tonnes80.3↓83.4↑81.9↓79.3↓80.2↑78.0↓80.3↑75.5↓77.7↑72.2↓
Year20102011201220132014*2015*2016*201720182019
Coal, millions of tonnes75.2↑81.9↑85.7↑83.7↓64.9↓39.7↓40.9↑———

n.b.: 2014, 2015, and 2016 do not include extraction in the territory occupied by the separatists.

In July 2014, several mines were closed in Eastern Ukraine because of fighting during the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine.[16] Because of this War in Donbass (according to the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Ministry) raw coal production in Ukraine dropped by 22.4% from 2013, to 64.976 million tonnes.[17] As a result, Ukraine begun importing power-generating coal from South Africa and Russia.[17][18] Lack of coal for Ukraine's coal-fired power stations and a shut down of one of the six reactors of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lead to rolling blackouts throughout the country from early till late December 2014.[19]

Consumption, import and export

Coal consumption in 2012 grew to 61.207 million tonnes, up 6.2% compared with 2011.[20] Most is used for public utilities and for power generation.[4] However local coal only provides 50% of the country’s electricity needs, therefore requiring Ukraine to import from Russia and Poland.[4]

As of 2013, the Ukrainian government plans to completely replace the natural gas used in the steel industry and some other economic sectors with coal.[20]

Coal powered 38% of Ukrainian electrical generation in 2014.[21] The relative cost of domestic coal versus imported coal, nuclear and gas, made it unworkable. In 2016, the nation imported 15.648 million tonnes of coal and anthracite worth of $1.467 billion.[22] In the year before the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, 2013, Ukraine exported 500 thousand tonnes and imported 25 million tonnes.[23] In 2016, Ukraine exported 520,585 tonnes of coal and anthracite worth of $44.762 million.

In 2019, Ukraine produced the highest amount of PM10 particulates and sulfur dioxide air pollution emissions in Europe from coal fired electricity generation. None of Ukraine's power plants have desulfurization equipment other than a small trial plant on unit 2 of Trypilska thermal power plant.[24]

In June 2020, the Government of Ukraine prioritized the usage of coal at Ukrainian power stations to reduce the import of natural gas used at the power stations for electricity production.[25][26]

Mine safety

Mine safety is the result of geology and human factors. The geology of Ukrainian coal mines is not favorable: seam thickness is small, seams are deep, and methane is common.[5] The coal mines of Donbas are one of the most hazardous in the world due to enormous working depths (down from 300 to 1200 m) as a result of natural depletion, as well as due to high levels of methane explosion, coal dust explosion and rock burst dangers. As the Economic Review points out, "Since 1991, up to 300 [miners] have died at work every year".[27][28]

Low profitability of Ukrainian mines has not attracted capital investment. As a result, the machinery and the processes used to dig coal are twenty years old. These methods are less safe on a per-miner basis and require more miners.[5]

The Zasyadko Mine stands as an example of Donbass mine safety. It was opened in 1958 and privatized in 1992, since which time it has had seven major accidents, including the 2007 Zasyadko mine disaster (101 workers killed)[29] and the 2015 Zasyadko mine disaster (17 killed).[30]

Corruption and illegal mining

Ukrainian mines are sometimes run by mafia-like organizations. Often, these organizations derive large incomes from the mines that belong to the government. As a result, underfinancing causes many employees to have to wait to receive their monthly salary for weeks or even months. Additionally, a lack of financing influences the condition of many coal mines. Old mines don’t receive the necessary financial aid, therefore they are not being renovated or remodeled annually. All these problems together with other challenges have resulted in "gradually declining production capacity and a loss of global market share".[31]

In the Donets Basin there are many extremely dangerous illegal mines.[6][32]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Photos: How war has devastated Ukraine's coal industry". CNN. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  2. ↑ Білецький В. С. Гайко Г.І, ;Нарис історії гірництва в Україні. К.: ТОВ Видавничий дім «Києво-Могилянська академія». 2022. — 194 с.
  3. ↑ Vorutnikov, Vladislav (May 25, 2015). "Ukrainian Coal: An Industry Divided". Coal Age. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ukraine - Mining: Coal Mining". Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  5. 1 2 3 Ukraine Coal Industry Restructuring Sector Report (PDF). World Bank. March 4, 1996. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  6. 1 2 "The coal-mining racket threatening Ukraine's economy". BBC News. April 23, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  7. ↑ Ukrainian energy industry: thorny road of reform, UNIAN (10 January 2018)
  8. ↑ ПРОМИСЛОВИЙ ПЕРЕВОРОТ ТА ОСОБЛИВОСТІ СТАНОВЛЕННЯ ІНДУСТРІАЛЬНОГО СУСПІЛЬСТВА В УКРАЇНІ
  9. ↑ ДИНАМІКА РОЗВИТКУ ГІРНИЧОЇ І МЕТАЛУРГІЙНОЇ ПРОМИСЛОВОСТИ НАДДНІПРЯНСЬКОЇ УКРАЇНИ
  10. ↑ ВУГІ́ЛЬНА ПРОМИСЛО́ВІСТЬ
  11. ↑ У 2006 році Україна збільшила видобуток вугілля
  12. ↑ Видобуток вугілля в Україні в 2011 р. збільшився на 8,9%
  13. ↑ В Україні видобуток вугілля за рік скоротився на 2,6%
  14. ↑ ЕНЕРГЕТИЧНА ГАЛУЗЬ УКРАЇНИ: ПІДСУМКИ 2015 РОКУ
  15. ↑ Видобуток вугілля в Україні зріс до 41 мільйона тонн
  16. ↑ Four miners killed, 16 injured after artillery shell hits bus in Chervonopartyzansk - DTEK, Interfax-Ukraine (11 July 2014)
  17. 1 2 Coal output in Ukraine declines 22.4% in 2014, Kyiv Post (Jan. 8, 2015)
  18. ↑ Ukraine pays for two more vessels carrying coal from South Africa – energy minister, Interfax-Ukraine (8 January 2015)
    Ukraine to Import Coal From ‘Far Away’ as War Curtails Mines, Bloomberg News (Dec 31, 2014)
    Batch of South African coal supplied to Ukraine, UNIAN (04.08.2015)
  19. ↑ Ukraine turns off reactor at its most powerful nuclear plant after 'accident', The Independent (28 December 2014)
    Ukraine Briefly Cuts Power to Crimea Amid Feud With Russia Over NATO, The New York Times (DEC. 24, 2014)
    Coal import to help avoid rolling blackouts in Ukraine — energy minister, ITAR-TASS (December 31, 2014)
    Rolling blackouts in Ukraine after nuclear plant accident, br>Mashable (Dec 03, 2014)
    Ukraine to Import Coal From ‘Far Away’ as War Curtails Mines, Bloomberg News (Dec 31, 2014)
  20. 1 2 Ukraine plans to reach extraction of 105 m t of coal a year, says president, Interfax-Ukraine (30 August 2013) "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  21. ↑ "Poroshenko: Share of nuclear power grows to 60% amid blockade of trade with Donbas". UNIAN. 16 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  22. ↑ Ukraine imports 15.6 mln tonnes of coal for $1.5 bln in 2016, Interfax-Ukraine (6 January 2017)
  23. ↑ (in Russian) Production of coking coal in Ukraine fell to the lowest since independence, UNIAN (14 February 2014)
  24. ↑ Alparslan, Ufuk (25 May 2021). "Coal power air pollution in Europe". Ember. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  25. ↑ Олександра, Автор: Панченко (2020-06-25). "Кабмін зробив вугілля основним паливом для українських ТЕЦ". Хмарочос (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  26. ↑ "Кабмін надав ТЕС на вугіллі пріоритетну диспетчеризацію". LIGA. 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  27. ↑ Grumau, S. (2002). Coal mining in Ukraine. Economic Review.44.
  28. ↑ Ukraine mine blast leaves 16 dead, BBC News (29 July 2011)
  29. ↑ "The miner, hospitalized after the accident at the mine Zasyadko, died" (in Ukrainian). Korrespondent. November 30, 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  30. ↑ Ukraine gas blast: 30 feared dead in Zasyadko coal mine BBC News
  31. ↑ A short history of factors in the Ukraine. Coal International. (2010).
  32. ↑ Illegal mines profitable, but at massive cost to nation, Kyiv Post (8 July 2011)
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