New horizons for an old mine.

The construction of the new shaft began in 2017. The contractor is a domestic enterprise – the trust "Shakhtspetsstroy," which has extensive experience working in challenging geological conditions. Initially, its specialists employed a ground freezing technology to a depth of 80 meters. This was necessary to accelerate the excavation of the clay soil.

The contractor drilled 36 wells near the shaft, through which the freezing agent – a calcium chloride solution – was supplied. The total depth of the future air supply shaft will be 830 meters.

– Air will be supplied through this shaft to the lower level of the "Tentekskaya" mine, – explains Dmitry Anisimov, the deputy chief engineer for capital construction at the mine. – At the same time, we are constructing a headframe, which will allow both miners and materials, equipment to be lowered. The cages installed here will be modern and large. The width of the existing ones is 4 meters, while the new ones will be 5.2 meters. This will enable the descent of modern combines, which are larger than the previous ones.

Simultaneously with the shaft, surface infrastructure facilities are being built at the mine. An electrical substation and a heater installation have already been constructed. The latter is necessary to supply warm air to the mine. Nearby, there will be storage facilities, a garage-charging station, a hoist chamber for replacing carts, and, of course, a metal above-ground structure of the headframe.

– We can say that we are building a new mine, – notes Dmitry Anisimov. – We have reached a depth of 830 meters, and the miners have come close to the D-6 layer, which has confirmed reserves of about 20 million tons of coal. This will be enough for the "Tentekskaya" mine to operate for 20 years, providing stable employment for people.

The new air supply shaft of the mine, owned by Qarmet, is set to be commissioned in 2025. Investments in its construction have exceeded 113 million dollars.