Interview with Mihailo Petrović, deputy director of MB “Kolubara”, Coal production – power balance guarantee

Published on 26. July 2013., Mining

In the OPM “Veliki Crljeni” excavation of overburden is finished. The beginning of the lignite exploitation in the zone below ​​the former Vreoci cemetery, in the OPM  “Field D”, is a guarantee of additional security of the implementation  of the annual production plan. In July,the overhauls of all the coal systems will be finished in the OPMs.

We talked with MihailoPetrović, deputy director of MB “Kolubara”, for the “Kolubara” newspaper, about production results, issues of the coal and overburden excavation technology, as well as regular investment operations in the production units of the mining basin “Kolubara”.

During the first five months and 18 days of June, in all four OPMs of MB “Kolubara”, 13.20million tons of coal have been produced i.e. 4.5 % more than planned amounts, which for this period amounted to 12.61 million tons.

– If we are talking just about June , i.e. for the first 18 days of June, miners  over- fulfilled the plan by 9.29 %, and 1,194.174 tons of coal was excavated. It is necessary to emphasize that the overhaul of two coal systems is in progress this month that are out of the production process. It is the coal ECL system,  where the bucket wheel excavator, so-called “Glodar 7” operates in the “Field D”and ECL system (“small Glodar 4”) operating in the “Field B”. The investment overhauls of these two coal systems will last longer than usual, due to additional works on both bucket wheel excavators. Regarding the fact that these two systems will be out of  production process for 35 days instead of 25 days, it is planned that coal production,during this period, is provided by “Glodar C700” in the “Field B”which will be included in production from 1^st July and it will be operating for 10 days,until the overhaul activities on these two systems are finished.- Mihailo Petrović explained.

According to Mr. Petrović, since the beginning of the year, in the OPMs it has been excavated and disposed about 31.94 million m³ of overburden, which is nearly 4 % lower than planned, which was 33.18 million m³. Commenting on the production results of overburden excavation , Mr. Petrović pointed out thatin the OPM “Veljiki Crljeni” the overburden production was finished. This ECS system has been moved to “Tamnava-West Field”, formed and included in the production process. This system will operate on the selective coal and overburden excavation, which will improve operation efficiency and provide higher production of coal in the “TamnavaWest-Field”. The reasons for lower percentage of the overburden production are a bit lower production in the “Field B”, which is 60% of the planned, and the end of operation of the ECS system in the OPM “Veliki Crljeni”. Since the beginning of this month, the overburden production amounts to 90%. It has been excavated and disposed about 3.53 million m³.

In the OPM “Field D”, since the beginning of the year, it has been produced a little more than 4 million tons of coal, which is by 24 % more than planned, and in “Tamnava– West Field”, the production of 5.91 million tons has been achieved, which is by 17 % more than planned. In the OPM “Field B”,in the previous period 1.18  million tons of lignite was produced, which is 55% of the plan realization. A bit more than two million tons of black gold was excavated in the OPM “Veliki Crljeni”, which is 95% of balance.

–Under- fulfillment of coal production in the  ”Field B” is expected. In this OPM we have a very complex  technical situation  regarding the excavation, because the village cemetery of Baroševac hasn’t been relocated yet, which makes the way and conditions of coal excavation more difficult. The difference of the coal amount that hasn’t been fulfilled in the  “Field B”,  but is envisaged by the plan, was produced in the “Field D”,where the production of lignite.In the case of coal excavation in the OPM “Veliki Crljeni“, the production was consciously suppressed, and it was forced in the OPM “Tamnava-West Field”. The coal from the OPM “Veliki Crljeni“ is used for homogenization and improvement of quality of the coal from the “Tamnava-West Field”. The achieved production in this OPM was quite sufficient for the balance amounts in the previous period.

The deputy director of MB “Kolubara”, while talking about the coal production in the “Field D”, emphasized that the beginning of lignite exploitation in the zone below the former cemetery of Vreoci, guarantees the additional security. In this zone, MB “Kolubara”has the coal of excellent quality and large quantity  that are necessary for production balance fulfillment in the OPMs “Field B”and “Field D”.

In the OMPs, “Field D”  and “Tamnava-West Field”,since the beginning of the year,the results that were achieved in overburden excavation are above the plan. Miners of the “Field D” excavated and deposited slightly more than 11.45million m³of overburden, and thus over-fulfilled the plan for this period by almost 14%.  In the “West Field”, the largest amounts of overburden were excavated, about 14.94 million m³, which is by 27.47 % above the plan.

Due to above mentioned problems with the conditions of excavation in the “Field B”, the production results of the overburden excavation are below the amounts envisaged by the plan. Since the beginning of the year, somewhat over 4 million m³ of solid mass has been excavated. In this OPM, the new reconstructions of the ECS system are in progress. The problem that has appeared in the external dump site of the ECS system with a land slideimposedusing a different technology. In the next period,the stabilization of the production in the “Field B” and improvement of the production results of this OPM are expected. Since the beginning of the year  by May, when the overburden production was finished  in the OPM “Veliki Crljeni“, a little more than 1.51 million m³ of solid mass was excavated.For the stability of the production process, especially during winter, in the OPMs of MB “Kolubara” regular investment overhauls of the production capacities have been done over the year. Regarding the current activities, plans and issues of overhaul operations, Mr. Petrović said:

– The overhauls of all the systems for coal production in the OPMs of “Kolubara” will be finished in July. The overhauls of the coal ECL system of the“Field D”  (BWE “Glodar 7”) and ECL system of the“Field B”  (BWE “Little Glodar 4”) are in progress at the moment. The overhaul of these two systems will last longer than usual due to additional works on both BWEs, and they are planned to be put into production process again on 10^th July.

By the end of the year, overhauls of the systems for overburden production,two in the “Tamnava-West Field”, two in the “Field D” and three in the “Field B” have been planned. The main problem,in order to achieve the overhauls schedule which was planned in the beginning of the year, is the procurement of parts and necessary materials.

Therefore,we  had to postpone the beginning of particular overhauls, for example works on the Fifth ECS system of the “Field D”, where a complete reconstruction of the power supply and steering on the “Spreader 6” is necessary.The procurement of the new equipment is in procedure and we had to postpone the beginning of the overhaul activities until September and we hope that the equipment will be purchased by that time.

For the realization of the investment overhauls of the other ECS systems, the procurements of the necessary parts and equipment for construction works are in progress.

As our interlocutor pointed out, the activated landslide in the zone of the external dump site of the ECS system of  the “Field C” has caused the additional problems in operation and communication in the OPMs “Field B” and “Field D”. Regarding the following activities of MB ”Kolubara”  related to the recovery of the landslide activation consequences, Mr. Mihailo Petrović says:

– It is necessary to form a new location for depositing overburden of the ECS system due to the landslide, as well as to prepare documentation for the relocation of the infrastructure structures, the local road Baroševac-Junkovac and 35 KV transmission line “Rudnik 5”and “Rudnik 6”, that should be placed on the final positions, as well as designing of a new location for the substation “Zeoke 2”. All the above mentioned works were planned by the proposed amendments of the Spatial Plan of MB “Kolubara”. However, the landslide activation significantly accelerated the activities of designing and planning of the area for the external dump site in the zone Turija, in Junkovac.  For the facilities and households which are in the landslide zone, 11 in total, which are moved out, the evaluation procedure  conducted by the City Institute for Expert Assessment in Belgrade is in progress. First results of the assessment will be finished these days and a complete payout to the owners of the households, who agree on the assessment, will follow. If some of the owners have objections to the assessment, the advance of50% of the value of the assessment will be paid outto them. Other activities in this area are envisaged by the proposed amendments which will be made formal by the end of July, as expected. It deals with proceeding with the general interest establishing of for the remaining 26 households which are included in the proposal, in order to provide the area for external dump site Turija.

As Mr. Mihailo Petrović points out in the end of the conversation, for the paper “Kolubara”, analyzing the dynamics of the production in the previous period and considering the opportunities for the following period, it can be expected that the miners of the biggest producer of lignite in Serbia even this year achieve the production results at the level of planned amounts.It is envisaged to excavate 29,971.000 tons of coal and 63,850.000 m³ of overburden, which according to the activities so far, will be achieved.

 

SOURCE;MBK