Saranskaya Coal Mine

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Saranskaya Coal Mine (Саранская) is an operating coal mine in Saran, Saran Urban, Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Saranskaya Coal Mine	Saran, Saran Urban, Karaganda, Kazakhstan	49.773061, 72.895188 (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	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1955	–

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
–	1.8	2018	Underground	Longwall	–	500*	#REF!*

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
38	–	557	Karaganda	Bituminous	Met	ArcelorMittal Temirtau steel plant

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Qarmet JSC	Qazaqstan Steel Group LLP	Kazakhstan

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

Note: The asterisk (*) indicates that the value is an estimated figure based on various factors, including the company's forecasted or reported monthly or quarterly production data, etc.

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Saleable	1.574	1.82	–	–	–	–	1.3*

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

Background

The Saranskaya Coal Mine (Шахта Саранская) is an underground coal mine in Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan. Karaganda City is located approximately 12 kilometres to the northeast.

The mine used to be owned by ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC, the Kazakh subsidiary of ArcelorMittal. It is part of ArcelorMittal's Karaganda Mine Complex, which supplies coal to the ArcelorMittal Temirtau steel plant. It merged with the Sokurskaya mine in mid-1997 and the Aktasskaya mine in 1998.

Following the tragic accident at Kostenko coal mine on 28 October 2023 killing 45 people, Kazakh President ordered his cabinet to stop investment cooperation with ArcelorMittal Temirtau. Arcelor Mittal confirmed on October 28th that they have been in discussions with the government and recently signed a preliminary agreement for a transaction that will transfer ownership of ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC to the Republic of Kazakhstan. The sale was completed in December 2023. Under the terms of the transaction, on closing ArcelorMittal has received consideration of $286 million and a further $250 million as repayment of outstanding intra-group dues. ArcelorMittal will also receive an additional sovereign-fund guaranteed payment of $450 million, paid in four equal annual instalments, as repayment of an intra-group loan. The new owners is Qazaqstan Investment Corporation, as state-owned direct investment fund which is owned by the national holding Baiterek.Subsequently Qazaqstan Steel Group became the new investor in the facilities of ArcelorMittal Temirtau. Qazaqstan Steel Group is owned by a Kazakh businessman Andrey Lavrentyev. At the same time, ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC was renamed Qarmet.

Incidents

In 2016, four miners died when the cable of the trolley broke upon lifting.

In March 2022, another fatality was recorded - a miner died following a collapse in the mine.

Fire was recorded at the mine in August 2023, the same month as the tragic incident at Kazakhstanskaya coal mine took place. Unlike the Kazakhstansaya coal mine, it appeared that there were no casualties and the fire was liquidated.

In March 2024, one worker died during the assembly prior to installation of specialized equipment. In October 2024, 3 miners sustained serious injuries following a rock fall.

Operations

The mine's capacity was said to be 1.8 million tonnes per year. 2018 production reached the same level.

In early 2024, it was planned to mine 1.4 million tonnes in 2024.

A media report from June 2023 stated that coal production by ArcelorMittal's eight underground mines in Kazakhstan declined from 11 million tonnes in 2015 to 7 million tonnes in 2022, and 4 out of 8 mines are planned for closure, including Saranskaya.In 2024, the new entity Qarmet under the new investor and management team extracted 6.5 million tonnes of coal and launched 6 additional longwalls. By 2028, the company planned to produce 9 million tonnes of coal. As per August 2024 reporting, on the instructions of the president of Kazakhstan, the operation of all eight mines of Qarmet was restored in the shortest possible time and large-scale work has begun to strengthen industrial safety.

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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.