Dobropillyavuhillya, Ltd

"Dobropillyavuhillya" State-Owned Holding Company was organized in 1976 on the basis of coal mines of Dobropillya town. "Dobropillyavuhillya" operates 6 coal mines that produce 5,150 thous. tons of coal per year, while the standard performance capacity is 4,900 thous. tons.

Four out of six mines have the super gas category and two of them are of the third category. All mines are dust-hazardous.
The mines produce 12 seams. The average thickness is 1,69 m. The ash content is 41.5 %.
The marks of coal D, G and DG are used for coking. The industrial reserves of the company are 471.6 million tons. The average depth of mining is 394 m, the maximum is 900 m. The length of mines are more than 405 km, 48 km (or 11 %) of them do not meet PB requirements. The average production load of one mine in 2000 was 2506 tons of coal per day.

The mines of the Holding Company operate pillar and complex mechanical mining. Conveyers deliver the coal from the faces to the loads in the main pillars.

The efficiency has considerably increased during the last year due to utilization of more advanced types of a lining complex ЗКD 90 in mining faces and tunneling machines P-110 in development faces.

All mines of the Holding Company except for “Dobropilska” and “Almazna” were built after the Second World War.

The State-Owned Holding Company comprises:
1. "Dobropilska" Mine
Director Volodymyr A. Pletnyov
2. "Almazna" Mine
Director - Serhiy Ya. Ivanchyshyn
3. "Bilytska" Mine
Director - Anatoliy I. Yatsura
4. "Bilozirska" Mine
Director - Volodymyr F. Panibratchenko
5. "Novodonetska" Mine
Director Victor K. Shypachyov
6. "Pioner" Mine
Director - Mykola O. Kreshchenko

Besides the coal mines, the Holding Company comprises 5 branch establishments:
State Open Joint-Stock Company “Dobropillya Haulier”
State Open Joint-Stock Company “Dobropillya RepairMechanical Plant”
State Open Joint-Stock Company "Dobropillyavuhlecomplekt"
State Open Joint-Stock Company "The Junction of Industrial Technological Connection"
Branch Establishment “Dobropillyapostachzbut” (supplying and trading company) and 12 structural independent units.

As to their profitability 5 mines belong to the second group of profitable mines, and mine "Bilytska" belongs to the third group.

MINING CONDITIONS
Of Coal-Seam Processing within the Limits of Mining Leases of “Dobropillyavuhillya” Mines

Mines of “Dobropillyavuhillya” Holding Company are located in one of the largest geological-industrial regions of Donets Basin (Donbas). From the north-east and south-west the territory of the region is limited by tectonic abnormalities.

Relatively ease rock bedding is impeded by the development of heavy chops. Coal-containing rocks in the limits of mine fields are mainly presented by argillites, siltstone, sandstone and limestone.

Owing to the presence of large-scale geological abnormalities a network of small-scale tectonic abnormalities and weak zones is significantly developed. This factor has a negative effect on the firmness of rock roofing while conducting second working and preliminary work.

This contributes to goaf creation and lining deformation and requires thorough approach when choosing the schemes and planning methods for mining works.

Minefield opening-up at coal enterprises is accomplished, as a rule, by two central-binary vertical pillars and capital crosscuts.

“Almazna” mine is the exception, where besides two vertical pillars at the main level of 107 m two inclined pillars are passed, one of them is used for coal delivery.

The scheme of minefield development is a panel one. The direction of coal excavation is from the groove to the minefield boundaries. Layer (extraction field) traversing is carried out only as backward motion.

The adopted excavation system is by long pillars along strike. Ventilation method is a sucking one. The combined ventilation scheme is used.

On the territory of the company mining leases of 6 operating mines and 10 perspective sites are situated. Two of them (“Dobropilska-Kapitalna” and “Samarska-Kapitalna”) are suitable for industrial utilization. The remaining eight need more detailed supplementary exploration.

The balance coal stock in the subsurface of the region is estimated to be 3.7 billion tons. If keeping the present pace of coal mining this stock will last for 520 years of work. About 60 % of the above-mentioned stock can be used for coking purposes.

All mines of the Holding Company are provided with the sufficient amount of explored reserves. Almost all of them possess spare seams or even the whole blocks, which can be transmitted to the mines, which, consequently, will significantly increase their lifetime.