Russia has begun liquidation of coal mines in occupied Donbass
Russian companies that leased 15 coal mines in the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR in 2024 have refused to develop 9 of them. The reason was the unprofitability of the deposits given the current world coal prices and high costs. Impex-Don leases two mines in the DPR, and the Donskie Ugli trading house leases seven more in the LPR. Now the companies are trying to return them to the “authorities” of the occupied regions for further liquidation. Earlier, they promised to invest 65 billion rubles in 15 facilities.
The issue was discussed at the Russian Ministry of Energy on April 10. According to RBC’s source, the government allowed the disposal of assets, but demanded payment for the creation of technical projects for their liquidation and the maintenance of the mines until closure. The Cabinet of Ministers believes that all these costs should be borne by investors, and they, in turn, want to shift this burden to local authorities. Maintaining the life support of one mine costs 20-30 million rubles per month, or 240-360 million rubles per year, and developing a technical project costs about 50 million rubles and can take up to a year. Thus, the total costs will amount to 2-3 billion rubles. It is also necessary to develop an action plan for the employment or retraining of full-time employees of the mines being closed.
Representatives of the Russian authorities say that there is no money for this in either the federal or regional budgets. Investors argue their position by the fact that they are allegedly not considered subsoil users, since they specifically took out a temporary lease license to determine the prospects for developing the mines. In addition, they note that they have already spent billions of rubles on workers’ salaries and reconstruction of facilities for a year from the date of the deal.
Commenting on the situation, the head of the Russian Independent Trade Union of Coal Industry Workers Ivan Mokhnachuk admitted that nine mines will indeed have to be closed, since “under the current conditions there is no other way out.” According to him, the problem is that some of the deposits are located near residential areas and their liquidation without proper development could lead to their deformation, “harming nearby settlements.”
The Molodogvardeyskaya, Krasny Partizan, Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya, Kharkovskaya, Barakov and other mines were transferred to investors in June 2024 on the recommendation of the Russian authorities, who decided to reform the Donbass coal industry, proposing to increase profitability by attracting private funds. Before that, some of the deposits belonged to the Krasnodonugol company of the Metinvest holding of the Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. It is unknown how many mines continue to operate in the occupied territories.
In 2023, former Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov spoke of 114 coal deposits, some of which were mothballed or in the process of liquidation. At the same time, he announced that 15 mines should remain in the LPR and DPR. According to Kyiv’s estimates, before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, about 2.8 million tons of coal worth $288 million were exported annually from separatist-controlled territories to Russia. In the fall of 2014, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry said that before the start of hostilities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, 95 coal mines were operating.