Serbia: Coal production backbone in EPS suffered “a big blow”

Published on 24. June 2014., News Serbia Energy

In the first moment, nine powerful excavators were almost completely flooded. It is estimated that the water depth was even 70m and only a few days after the night everything seemed to be lost, the first tons from the two less affected open pit mines started to be transported by the conveyor belts.

The fate has never been kind to miners. It seems that the nature actively opposes the attempts of human to spend all its treasures. This spring “Kolubara” felt all the hardness of this unwritten law “on its own skin”.

The years of work, planning, strategy development, for only a few hours, literally “fell into the water”. The people that all their work in service spent in the open pit mines of the Kolubara Mining Basin experienced something they could not even dream- they watched how water waves simply flow into the open pit mines and swallows excavators that helped them ( the people) to feed their children , and that supplied the whole Serbia with electricity.

When that horrible night was over and the river Kolubara finally stilled, two lakes were formed on Tamnava OPMs. In the first moment, nine powerful excavators were almost completely flooded. It is estimated that the water depth was even 70m. Ironically – a part of the machine that, on some places, was the only visible part of the machine above the water level is called “mast”. Consolation to insuperable damage caused by the force of nature is that the systems were stopped on time and what is the most important is that there were no human casualties.

In the year when “Kolubara” celebrated one of its most important jubilee, excavation of the billionth ton and recorded second on the list top production in its history. Still water waves have not destroyed everything. Coal is still there. Only a few days after the night everything seemed to be lost, the first tons from the two less affected open pit mines started to be transported by the conveyor belts.

The future is uncertain. It is obvious that – “Kolubara” will never be the same.