Trade Unions beat the alarm - in Ukraine they want to close 35 mines

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and private owners plan to suspend production, preserve and finally close 35 coal mines, said Mikhail Volynets at a press conference, at a press conference.

Today there is an approved list of mines to be closed, the leader of the trade union claims.

"There is a list of 35 mines for dry conservation and closing. These mines are, as with state property, somewhere around 2/3, and 1/3 - private property, including in Metinvest, which is obtained by coking coal. If we rely on the extractive industry, if we are betting on metallurgy, then it is not clear why mines are being trampled in Ukraine, which are mined by the valuables of valuable Coking brands, such as K “K” and “F”, ”Mikhail Volynets was indignant.

As it became known, the list of closed mines has already been considered by the Public Council under the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, and now it was transferred to the collegium of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.

At the same time, Volynets specified that 4 mines included in DTEK, such as: “Ternovskaya”, “Stashkova”, “Dzerzhinsky” and “Sverdlova”, and 3 mines included in “Metinvest”, such as “50th anniversary of the USSR”, “Orekhovskaya” and “Dunnaya”, are included in this list of mines included in private property.

At the same time, they plan to start the liquidation of those included in DTEK and Metinvest from 2020 and continue in the next year.

Recall, the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuri Boyko repeatedly stated that in 2013 the mines would not close.

A group of experts of the Tacis project “The Coal Sector Support Program” predicts the closure of 29 coal enterprises in Ukraine until 2016.

As we have already reported, the largest mining and metallurgical group of Ukraine “Metinvest” is not going to close the Duvannaya mine (Sukhodolsk, Lugansk region), which is part of the Krasnodonugulu coal mining company.

President Viktor Yanukovych considers it necessary for the mandatory employment of miners of the closed mines.

Trade Unions of the miners claim to be readiness for protests in case of further ignoring the Cabinet of the problems of the coal industry.