Shubarkol Premium Coal Mine

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Shubarkol Premium Coal Mine (Шубарколь Премиум) is an operating coal mine in Shubarkol, Nura district, Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Shubarkol Premium Coal Mine	Shubarkol, Nura district, Karaganda, Kazakhstan	49.017346, 68.614549 (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	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	2016	–

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
–	3	2022	Surface	Open Pit	–	50*	#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
399	–	2147	–	Subbituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Shubarkol Premium JSC	Shubarkol Premium JSC	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	3	–	1.23*	1.13	1.674	3	1.6

Expansion/Extension

Table 6: Project status

* Added capacity of a coal mine refers to the enhancement in the mine's production capabilities beyond its initial production capacity.

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Project Phase	Added Capacity (Mtpa)*	Start Year
Proposed	Announced	Expansion	–	3	2028

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

Shurbarkol Premium Coal Mine (разрез Шубарколь Премиум) is a SURFACE mine in Karaganda region, Kazakhstan.

It is not to be confused with Shubarkol Centralny coal mine and Shubarkol Zapadny Coal Mine. Shubarkol Premium JSC owns and operates the mine. The company is listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange.

It is owned by Joint Resources JSC (67%), TRANS COAL INVESTMENT GROUP LLP (16.5%) and FCI MANAGEMENT LLP (16.5%). Mr T. Kulibaev is the sole shareholder of Joint Resources JSC.

Shubarkol Premium JSC was registered in April 2017. Initially, the development of the coal mine was carried out by JV Arbat LLP, established in 2013 to implement the project to develop the Centralny-2 site of Shubarkol coal deposit in the Karaganda region. In 2013 the company signed a contract with the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan for coal extraction for 25 years, the contract is renewable. In 2016, Arbat JV was renamed to Shubarkol Premium.

The mine produces Grade D coal (sub-bituminous), with further processing and production of semi-coke, coal-tar, semi-coking gas, synthetic liquid fuel. Coal is supplied to the domestic market as well as exported.

Coal production almost doubled in 2022 and according to the company's annual report, in 2023 it planned to increase production to 4.2 Mt. However as of September 2023, the coal mine's production only reached over 1 million tonnes, a 50% decrease compared to 2022, due to limitations on the supply of railway cars by the national company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy. Most of the coal in January-August 2023 was exported to Poland (8x increase compared with 2022 export levels), the rest was shipped to Latvia, Estonia and Uzbekistan. In contrast in the same period in 2022, significant volumes were shipped to Tukey, Cyprus and Switzerland. Actual production in 2023 was reported at 1.6 million tonnes.

Expansion

As per its 2022 annual report, the company planned to grown annual coal production to 4.2 million in 2023. As per October 2024 news, the company's updated plans included to increase coal production to reach 5 Mtpa mark in 2028. The problems with coal transportation via the Russian Railways network have not been resolved, and in the first half of 2024, the mining company fulfilled its plan for fuel shipment by only 12%. 2024 production was expected at 2 million tonnes.

Articles and Resources

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.