Interfax quoted the region administration said in a press-release that German company Schmidt plans to invest over EUR 245 million into the development of the Novodmitriyevskoye brown (lignite) coal field in the Kharkiv Region.

The press-release said "A memorandum between the Kharkiv Regional Administrative, Ukraine National Academy of Sciences and the company Schmidt has been signed which in its letter of guarantee stated the readiness to finance this project. This concerns EUR 245 million only before the start of development."

A joint venture has been formed for the project. Exploration operations at the section should start in the next 18-months to two years.

According to the regional administration, coal reserves at the Novodmitriyevskoye field come to 390 million tonnes, which is enough for over 100 years of intensive production. The press release said "The coal quality is close to brown coal in the Urals as well as Bulgarian, German and Yugoslav coal."

It was earlier reported that Ukraine hopes to move its combined heat and power plants fully to coal-water mixture generation. The Energy and Coal Ministry is now developing this type of fuel technology at CHPs using brown and coking coal.

(Sourced from Interfax)