Amaam Coal Mine

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Amaam Coal Mine (Амаамское месторождение) is a shelved coal mine in Alkatvaam, Anadyrsky, Chukotka, Russia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Amaam Coal Mine	Alkatvaam, Anadyrsky, Chukotka, Russia	62.721858, 178.929691 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the coal mine:

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Opening Year	Closing Year
Shelved	Exploration	New	–	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
5	–	–	Underground & Surface	Mixed	231	60*	*

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
32.5	–	521	Bering	Bituminous	Thermal & Met	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Northern Pacific Coal Company JSC	Tigers Realm Coal Ltd [80.0%]	Australia

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September supplement.

Background

Amaam coal mine (Амаамское месторождение) is a proposed surface coal mine 50 km south of the village of Alkatvaam, in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (District), Far East, Russia. Amaam coal mine is part of the Tigers Realm Coal Amaam coal project, along with the operational Amaam North Project F coal mine. The Amaam North Project F and Amaam deposits are located within separate structural blocks of the Bering Coal Basin.

The project is developed by Northern Pacific Coal Company JSC, where an Australian-registered Tigers Realm Coal Limited holds 80%.

As of 2018, Amaam coal mine was an ambitious project and remained in pre-development stage. Amaam requires significant investment in infrastructure in order to be developed.

A preliminary Feasibility Study was released in April 2013 and subsequently Tigers Realm Coal has completed further drilling and exploration activities, updated the resource estimate and obtained two long-term (20 year) Extraction and Exploration Licences over parts of the deposit, whilst also extending the Exploration Licence. There are three licenses for Amaam, “Zapadny”, mining until March 2033, “Nadezhny”, mining until July 2037, and "General", exploration until December 2019.

According to Russia's 'Programme for Coal Industry Development up to 2035' (published in June 2020), the target capacity of the coal mine is 5-10 Mtpa. However in its 2020 annual report, company stated 5Mtpa as the target capacity.

In its 2022 mid-year update, Tigers Realm reported that it intended to 'actualize Amaam technical and economic development options' (page 18).

In its 2023 mid-year update, Tigers Realm stated that "there were minimal activities undertaken at the project, there being no additions to the carrying value of non-current assets, their carrying value remaining at $Nil". The Group made asset write-down in prior periods related to the project and stated that as of June 2023, the Amaam Project development is not expected in the foreseeable future. As of September 2023, the project was considered Shelved.

• Owner: Northern Pacific Coal Company JSC
• Parent: Tigers Realm Coal Limited (80%)
• Location: Approximately 50km south of the village of Alkatvaam, Anadyrsky District, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia
• GPS Coordinates: 62.721858, 178.929691 (approximate)
• Status: Shelved
• Production Capacity: 5 Mtpa
• Total Resource: 521 Mt
• Mineable Reserves: 25-40 million tonnes target
• Coal type: Bituminous (Met and Thermal)
• Mine Type: Surface with potential for underground mining
• Start Year:
• Source of Financing:

Environment

Indigenous Chukchi live in the area of the Amaam coal project and have been in conflict over the natural resources with coal companies.

In 2007 Northern Pacific Coal Mining, Severo-Tikhookeanskaya Ugolnaya Kompaniya / STUK in Russian which is a subsidiary of Tigers Realm Coal was granted a permit for the Beringovyi hard coal deposit. Initially, the permit was given under the condition that the company stays out of the territories of the indigenous obshchina (kinship-based community and cooperative), however the company chose to ignore this condition. The exploration works led to serious environmental damage by drilling, fuel spills and movement of heavy machinery in the summer period across the Amaam river. (In the summer months, the environment is particularly vulnerable due to the thawed ground).

In 2011, STUK hired the Chukokta Trading Company as a subcontractor. With the arrival of this company, the violations aggravated. In summer of 2011, right in the middle of the the salmon spawning season, Chukokta Trading Company hauled cargo from the Ushakov bay across the pristine tundra, the floodplains of the Amaam lagoon and the Amaam river all the way to the base using heavy transport equipment, inflicting irreparable damage to the river.

The indigenous people filed complaints and the coal company filed a counter suit and continued to operate. In February 2013 the arbitration court of Chukotka ruled in favour of the STUK and ordered that the obschchina had to pay the damages amounting to approximately 15,000 US Dollars. In November 2013, the head of the Anadyr municipal district of Chukotka adopted a decree revoking the rights of the community to the given territory.

In 2015 the earlier ruling was overturned, meaning that the Chukchi did not have to pay the coal company but no compensation was offered to the Chukchi for damage to their land.

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.