Elegest Coal Mine

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Elegest Coal Mine (Элегестское угольное месторождение) is a shelved coal mine in Ust-Elegest, Kyzylskiy, Tuva, Russia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Elegest Coal Mine	Ust-Elegest, Kyzylskiy, Tuva, Russia	51.565237, 94.112646 (exact)

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

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Opening Year	Closing Year
Shelved	Construction	New	2026 (planned)	–

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
15	–	–	Surface	Open Pit	84	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
855	–	–	Elegestsky	Bituminous	Met	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Tuva Energy Industrial Corporation JSC	Tuva Energy Industrial Corporation JSC [100%]	Russia

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

The Elegest coal mine (Элегестское угольное месторождение) is a proposed surface mine in Tuva Republic, south of Eastern Siberia, Russia. The project is owned by Tuva Energy Industry Corporation (TEPK), which is owned by a businessman Ruslan Baisarov. Between 2006 and 2009 TEPK carried out exploration of the Elegestskoye coal deposit.

The project was mentioned in Russia's 'Programme for Coal Industry Development up to 2035', released in June 2020. According to the Programme, the planned capacity of the project is 15 million tonnes, with expected completion by 2026.

TEPK also planned to build a coal port terminal at Vanino port in Khabarovsk Krai, and the Elegest-Kyzyl-Kuragino railway to transport coal from the mine to the port for export. The train line and mine expansion were expected to be operational in 2023.

The developer explained it a media post in May 2020: "Once completed, the Elegest-Kyzyl-Kuragino railway line will be 410 kilometres long of which 290 kilometres will run across Krasnoyarsk Territory and 120 kilometres through Tuva. "We are in the process of building 127 bridges that will stretch over 10 kilometres and eight tunnels that will be around 11 kilometres long in total. The line will have a cargo transportation capacity of 15 million tonnes per annum , but we are already planning to increase this to 27 million tonnes. We will need this increased capacity since we are expecting the Elegest coal project to require transportation for around 15 million tonnes of coal every year."

If built, the railway project would be part of a new international transport corridor Russia-Mongolia-China: the Elegest-Kyzyl-Kuragino railway would provide access to the Russian-Mongolian border and further through Mongolia to China.

However in March 2021, the Russian government ordered to postpone the concession to build the railway line Elegest-Kyzyl-Kuragino by up to 5 years (until 2026). The mining works in-progress were already mothballed earlier. In spring 2022, the head of the government of Tuva said that the authorities of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khakassia and Tuva were preparing an appeal to the federal authorities to resume the construction of the railway. In June 2022, the transport corridor project project was presented by the regional Tuva authorities, however without a segment of the way to Elegest.

As of September 2023, there were no further news on the project.

• Owner: Tuva Energy Industry Corporation JSC (TEPK)
• Parent: Tuva Energy Industry Corporation JSC (TEPK)
• Location: Ust-Elegest, Kyzylskiy District, Tuva Republic, Russia
• GPS Coordinates: 51.565237, 94.112646 (exact)
• Status: Shelved
• Production Capacity: 7 Mtpa expanding to 15 Mtpa
• Mineable Resource: 855 million tonnes (referred to as "balance reserves").
• Coal type: Bituminous (Met)
• Mine Type: Surface
• Start Year: 2026
• Source of Financing:

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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.