One of the biggest coal mines in Siberias Kemerovo region has actually suspended operations in the middle of extreme financial distress, leaving numerous workers without pay and highlighting growing instability in Russias coal heartland.The Spiridonovskaya mine, which utilized around 900 individuals, suspended production in early June due to an absence of funding, Interfax reported Monday, citing the Kemerovo regions coal industry ministry.Wage, trip and severance financial obligations now amount to roughly 90 million rubles (about $1.17 million), the ministry told Interfax.In late May, the mines management revealed the termination of 760 workers, mentioning a vital lack of mutual fund.
By the end of June, around 120 employees had actually resigned voluntarily.About 130 employees remain on website to maintain necessary systems at the mine, which produced around 214,000 metric tons of coal earlier this year before stopping operations.First Deputy Governor Andrei Panov, head of the Kemerovo local federal government, acknowledgedFriday that Spiridonovskayas employees had not been paid in over a month.He previously said that 20 of the areas 151 coal business were on the brink of personal bankruptcy.
Today, in a time of crisis, coal miners are forced to endure by any ways needed cutting costs, boosting efficiency and in many cases placing workers on overdue leave or laying them off entirely, Panov wrote.Spiridonovskaya reported 1.5 billion rubles ($19.5 million) in profits in 2023, though it still published a net loss of 422 million rubles ($5.5 million).
In 2024, losses quadrupled to 1.8 billion rubles ($23.4 million) regardless of incomes increasing to 2.2 billion rubles ($28.6 million).
The shutdown of Spiridonovskaya comes amid a wider decline in the regional coal industry.Eight mines closed throughout the Kuzbass area in 2024 and almost 500 workers have gone overdue for a number of months, Kemerovo Governor Ilya Seredyuk reported in February.The labor force at lots of other sites has been reduced.Approximately 250 workers were laid off at the Inskaya mine alone, local Coal Minister Oleg Tokarev said in January.The Kemerovo region, also called the Kuzbass, is Russias dominant coal-producing region, accounting for nearly 60% of the nations total tough coal output, 80% of coking coal and 100% of the most valuable grades, according to official figures.The areas coal market uses more than 110,000 people, over 70% of the whole Russian coal workforce.