September 07, 2008

Belon gets new coal license in Kuzbass

Interfax reported that Belon Group's Novobachatsky open pit mine has obtained a license to explore and evaluate hard coal reserves at the Prisalairskaya Polosa site in the Kuznetsk basin. It acquired the license in order to increase its coal reserves.

The report said preliminary exploration suggests the company will identify at least two prime areas of coal bedding with total coal reserves of 10 million tonnes at the property.

Belon has said it plans this year to complete all exploration and preparations at the Yerunakovskoye field with a view to starting to build a mine there in 2009.

The Novosibirsk based Belon group includes various coal enterprises, all based in the Kuzbass the Chertinskaya-Koksovaya, Listvyazhnaya, Novaya-2 and Kostromovskaya mines, Novobochatsky-1 and Novobochatsky-2 strip mines, the Belovskaya and Listvyazhnaya enrichment plants and various service and transport companies.