Coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

has historically been an important industry in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Although the industry is often associated with the coal-rich

Donets basin The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets (), is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv ...

in the east of the country, other coal mining regions include the Lviv-Volhynian basin and the Dnieper brown coal mining basin. The Donets basin is Ukraine's most developed and largest coal mining region. In 2013, Ukraine was the third largest coal producer in Europe. 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 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 aging mining equipment and processes, (2) the government, taking advice from the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

, has discontinued $600 million annual mining subsidies, and (3) the Ukrainian government refuses to buy from mines controlled by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

History

has historically been an important industry in

. Coal first started to be produced in Ukraine in 1870, when it was part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. In 1913, Donetz produced 87% of Russia's coal, and 50% of the

metallurgical coal Metallurgical coal or coking coal is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking. The demand for metallurgical coal is highly coupled ...

of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Like other Soviet enterprises, coal companies provided social facilities including schools and hospitals. By 2013, Ukraine had become the third largest coal producer in Europe.

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. In 2013, according to the Ukrainian mining

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, coal constituted 95% of Ukraine's domestic energy resources. It has been calculated that 90 percent of Ukraine's coal reserves are located in the Donets Coalfield in the east of the country. In March 2017, the Ukrainian president

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

signed a decree that banned the movement of goods to and from territories controlled by the self-proclaimed

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR; , ) is Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, occupied territory in Ukraine that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex and declared as a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia, comprising parts o ...

and

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR; , ) is a disputed territory administered as a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitar ...

, which stopped coal from the Donets Black Coal Basin being used in the rest of the country. Other Ukrainian coalfields include the Lviv-Volhynian Coalfield, between

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and Volodymyr, and the Dnieper Coalfield in central Ukraine, where

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

(brown coal) was mined until the 1990s.

Coal mining

''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 the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

. The war in Donbass caused coal production in Ukraine to decrease by 22.4% of its 2013 value, to 64.976 million tonnes.Coal output in Ukraine declines 22.4% in 2014

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden. In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...

(Jan. 8, 2015) As a result, Ukraine begun importing coal from South Africa and Russia. A lack of coal for Ukraine's

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

s and a shutdown of one of the six reactors of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lead to rolling

power outage A power outage, also called a blackout, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, a power cut, or a power out is the complete loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user. There are many causes of power failures in an el ...

s throughout the country throughout December 2014.

Consumption, import and export

Coal consumption in 2012 grew to 61.207 million tonnes, up 6.2% compared with 2011.Ukraine plans to reach extraction of 105 m t of coal a year, says president

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

(30 August 2013) Most is used for public utilities and for power generation. However local coal only provides 50% of the country’s electricity needs, therefore requiring Ukraine to import from Russia and Poland. As of 2013, the Ukrainian government plans to completely replace the natural gas used in the

steel industry Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high elastic modulus, yield strength, fracture strength and low raw material cost, steel is one of the ...

and some other

economic sectors One classical breakdown of economic activity distinguishes three sectors: * Primary: involves the retrieval and production of raw materials, such as corn, coal, wood or iron. Miners, farmers and fishermen are all workers in the primary sect ...

with coal. Coal powered 38% of Ukrainian electrical generation in 2014. 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. In the year before the start of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, 2013, Ukraine exported 500 thousand tonnes and imported 25 million tonnes. 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 Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...

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. 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.

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. The coal mines of

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

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 Coal dust is a fine- powdered form of coal which is created by the crushing, grinding, or pulverization of coal rock. Because of the brittle nature of coal, coal dust can be created by mining, transporting, or mechanically handling it. Grinding ...

and rock burst dangers. As the ''Economic Review'' points out, "Since 1991, up to 300 inershave died at work every year". 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. Zasyadko

The Zasiadko 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 Zasiadko mine disaster (101 workers killed) and the 2015 Zasiadko mine disaster (17 killed).

Corruption and illegal mining

Ukrainian mines are sometimes run by

mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

-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 Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a Market (economics), market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those ...

". In the Donets Basin there are many extremely dangerous illegal mines.Illegal mines profitable, but at massive cost to nation

(8 July 2011)

References

External links

Ukraine
from Eurocoal ( EU)
On the Industrial History of Ukraine
from the European Route of Industrial Heritage
Unregulated coal mining destroys Donbas nature
from the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Working Group {{Navboxes , title=Articles and topics related to Coal in Ukraine , state=collapsed , list1= {{Europe topic, Coal in {{Resources in Ukraine {{Harvesting and resource extraction in Ukraine Geology of Ukraine