Mindeli Coal Mine

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Mindeli Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Tkibuli, Rach'a, Georgia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Mindeli Coal Mine	Tkibuli, Rach'a, Georgia	42.33943, 42.988558 (approximate)

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

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	2008	–

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
–	0.075	2021	Underground	–	–	494*	894

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
45.2	–	–	Tkibuli- Shaori	Bituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Saknakhshiri LLC	Steel International Trading Company LLC [100.0%]	Georgia

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 Mindeli coal mine is an underground coal mine in the Tkibuli- Shaori coalfield, Tkibuli, Georgia. The mine is owned and operated by Saknakhshiri LLC, which is the only mining company in Georgia. Since September 2019, Saknakhshiri Ltd is owned by Steel International Trading Company Ltd. Previous owner was Georgian Industrial Group.

As of today, there are two operating shafts in Tkibuli - the Mindeli coal mine and the smaller Dzidziguri Coal Mine.

Coal exploitation in Tkibuli deposit started in 1825. In the 1950s, coal production in the four mines of the deposit exceeded 3 million tonnes per year. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, coal mining in Tkibuli was stopped. According to Global Methane Initiative, Mindeli mine resumed coal extraction in 2008 after a 15-year break. Saknakhshiri additionally holds a license for coal extraction from the Vale coalfield near Akhaltsikhe, in southern Georgia, estimated to have coal reserves of more than 75 million tonnes for open cast mining.

According to Global Methane Initiative's 2015 report, the mine supplied coal to cement factories in Kaspi and Rustavi and in 2013, briefly held plans to increase capacity to accommodate two thermal power plants of 160MW and 300MW. The plan was to increase coal extraction in current shafts to 0.85-0.9 million tonnes per year and to construct a new mineshaft to accommodate additional 2-3 million tonnes per year. However, these plans did not go ahead. There are no coal-fired power plants in the country. The plan to build a coal-fired Tkibuli power station was abandoned, and the planned coal-fired Gardabani power station was instead built as a gas-fired Gardabani Combined Cycle power station.

Information on the mine's production is very limited. In 2013, the mine produced 100 thousand tonnes. In 2017, a presentation from the former shareholder Georgian Industrial Group shows joint production of the two Tkibuli mines at around 300 thousand tonnes, consistent with the figure from the National Statistics for 2017 coal production. In 2018 and 2019 coal production in Georgia was affected by the suspension of operations following the tragic accidents at the Mindeli mine in 2018. In 2020 when operations resumed, Georgia produced 99 thousand tonnes. Data from the National Statistics office indicates 2021 domestic production of 148 thousand tonnes. A media source (in Georgian) from October 2022 reported that domestic coal production in the 8 months of 2022 reached 94 thousand tonnes.

According to 2022 media report, the largest share of coal mined in Tkibuli was used for the production of cement, and for years the main purchasing company was "Heidelberg Cement". The reason for the decrease in production is the lack of investments and the decrease in the demand for coal in the industry, in particular the failure to build coal-fired power plants.

Accidents

The mine is plagued by accidents. In 2017, due to a collapse of working beams, 4 miners died. In 2018, two accidents in May and then in July took the life of 10 miners. Production was suspended after the July accident for 13 months until September 2019

Another accident occurred in January 2022 when 1 person died and 9 were injured following an explosion caused by methane. Georgia's Fair Labour Platform called for suspension of operations until maximum safety guarantees are provided. Since 2007, 41 people have been killed while working in the Tkibuli mines (Mindeli mine and Dzidziguri Coal Mine).

Transparency

The Georgia-based environmental organization Green Alternatives wrote a company profile of Saknakhshiri, which concluded:

"like other companies, Saknakhshiri does not make publicly available information on: terms of mining license, terms and conditions of permit of enrichment plant and their fulfilment; damage caused to the environment as a result of company activities, planned and implemented measures to repair and/or reduce environmental damage; as well as on the state of the environment being affected by company's activities. Saknakhiri does not have its website any longer. Nor the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture provides information about the environmental conditions in the area affected by company activities, although, according to international and national legal requirements, this information should be available to the public proactively – without having to request the information."

• Operator: Saknakhshiri LLC
• Parent company: Steel International Trading Company Ltd
• Location: Tkibuli- Shaori coalfield,Tkibuli, Georgia
• GPS coordinates: 42.339430, 42.988558 (approximate)
• Mine status: Operating
• Production: 0.1 million ton per annum (2013), 0.148 million tonnes (2021, jointly with the smaller Dzidziguri Coal Mine)
• Mineable reserves: 45 million tonnes
• Mine type: Underground
• Coal type: Bituminous
• Mine size:
• Start year: 1973, resumed in 2008 (resumed)
• Number of employees: 894 miners

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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.