Coal in Ukraine

Russian poster from 1921 with the caption Donets Basin is the heart of Russia.

Coal mining began in Ukraine in 1870. In 1913, Donetz produced 87% of the coal in the Russian Empire. It produced 50% of the metallurgical coal of the USSR. Like other Soviet enterprises, coal companies provided social facilities including schools and hospitals

Ukraine's coal reserves are estimated at 60 billion tonnes, of which 23 billion are proven and probable, and 10 billion tonnes are economically extractable.[2][3] According to the Ukrainian mining trade union, coal constitutes 95% of Ukraine's domestic energy resources.[4]

Ninety percent of Ukraine's coal reserves are located in the Donets Coalfield (easternmost part of the country).[2] Control of this portion of the country is disputed. Russian-backed rebels claim sovereignty over the region. Mid-March 2017 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on a temporary ban on the movement of goods to and from territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic meaning that since then Ukraine does not buy coal from the Donets Black Coal Basin.[5]

Two other coalfields include one in the northwest, the Lviv-Volhynian Coalfield, between Lviv and Volodymyr-Volynskyi.[2] Another, the Dnieper Coalfield in central Ukraine, offers lignite (brown coal), but the mining of lignite stalled in the 1990s.

Coal production in Ukraine, million tonnes[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
Year	1860	1861	1862	1863	1864	1865	1866	1867	1868	1869
Coal, millions of tonnes	na	0.1	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
Year	1870	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879
Coal, millions of tonnes	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
Year	1880	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889
Coal millions of tonnes	1.3	1.4	1.6	1.6	na	na	na	na	na	na
Year	1890	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899
Coal, millions of tonnes	2.9	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
Year	1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909
Coal, millions of tonnes	11.3	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
Year	1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919
Coal, millions of tonnes	16.3	na	na	22.5	24.0	23.0	24.5	22.0	6.3	4.5
Year	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929
Coal, millions of tonnes	4.0	4.0	6.0	7.0	11.3	11.3	18.3	22.0	22.5	25.0
Year	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939
Coal, millions of tonnes	33.0	36.7	41.2	44.0	53.0	59.8	67.0	67.2	69.3	70.9
Year	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949
Coal, millions of tonnes	76.2	57.2	2.2	2.6	16.3	30.3	37.5	45.0	54.9	65.0
Year	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
Coal, millions of tonnes	78.0	81.2	88.8	95.6	104.6	120.3	132.6	152.1	164.2	167.3
Year	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Coal, millions of tonnes	172.1	171.4	175.1	179.7	187.1	194.3	196.4	199.0	200.4	204.4
Year	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Coal, millions of tonnes	207.1	209.4	211.2	212.6	213.7	215.7	218.2	217.1	210.9	204.7
Year	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Coal, millions of tonnes	197.1	191.1	194.1	190.9	190.8	189.0	193.0	192.0	191.7	180.2
Year	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Coal, millions of tonnes	164.8	135.6	133.6	115.7	94.4	83.6	74.8	75.6	76.2	81.1
Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Coal, millions of tonnes	80.3	83.4	81.9	79.3	80.2	78.0	80.3	75.5	77.7	72.2
Year	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014*	2015*	2016*	2017	2018	2019
Coal, millions of tonnes	75.2	81.9	85.7	83.7	64.9	39.7	40.9	—	—	—

n.b.: 2014, 2015, and 2016 do not include extraction in the territory occupied by the separatists.

Coal mining is one of the largest employers in Ukraine. The country's coal industry employs about 500,000 people.[14]

In July 2014, several mines were closed in Eastern Ukraine because of fighting during the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine.[15] Because of this War in Donbass (according to the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Ministry) raw coal production in Ukraine dropped by 22.4% from 2013, to 64.976 million tonnes.[16] As a result, Ukraine begun importing power-generating coal from South Africa and Russia.[16][17] Lack of coal for Ukraine's coal-fired power stations and a shut down of one of the six reactors of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant lead to rolling blackouts throughout the country from early till late December 2014.[18]

Coal consumption in 2012 grew to 61.207 million tonnes, up 6.2% compared with 2011.[19] Most is used for public utilities and for power generation.[2] However local coal only provides 50% of the country’s electricity needs, therefore requiring Ukraine to import from Russia and Poland.[2]

As of 2013, the Ukrainian government plans to completely replace the natural gas used in the steel industry and some other economic sectors with coal.[19]

Coal powered 38% of Ukrainian electrical generation in 2014.[20] The relative cost of domestic coal versus imported coal, nuclear and gas, made it unworkable. In 2016, the nation imported 15.648 million tonnes of coal and anthracite worth of $1.467 billion.[21] In the year before the current Ukrainian crisis, 2013, Ukraine exported 500 thousand tonnes and imported 25 million tonnes.[22] In 2016, Ukraine exported 520,585 tonnes of coal and anthracite worth of $44.762 million.

In June 2020, the Government of Ukraine prioritized the usage of coal at Ukrainian power stations to reduce the import of natural gas used at the power stations for electricity production.[23][24]

Mine safety is the result of geology and human factors. The geology of Ukrainian coal mines is not favorable: seam thickness is small, seams are deep, and methane is common.[3] The coal mines of Donbas are one of the most hazardous in the world due to enormous working depths (down from 300 to 1200 m) as a result of natural depletion, as well as due to high levels of methane explosion, coal dust explosion and rock burst dangers. As the Economic Review points out, "Since 1991, up to 300 [miners] have died at work every year".[25][26]

Low profitability of Ukrainian mines has not attracted capital investment. As a result, the machinery and the processes used to dig coal are twenty years old. These methods are less safe on a per-miner basis and require more miners.[3]

The Zasyadko Mine stands as an example of Donbass mine safety. It was opened in 1958 and privatized in 1992, since which time it has had seven major accidents, including the 2007 Zasyadko mine disaster (101 workers killed)[27] and the 2015 Zasyadko mine disaster (17 killed).[28]

Ukrainian mines are sometimes run by mafia-like organizations. Often, these organizations derive large incomes from the mines that belong to the government. As a result, underfinancing causes many employees to have to wait to receive their monthly salary for weeks or even months. Additionally, a lack of financing influences the condition of many coal mines. Old mines don’t receive the necessary financial aid, therefore they are not being renovated or remodeled annually. All these problems together with other challenges have resulted in "gradually declining production capacity and a loss of global market share".[29]

In the Donets Basin there are many extremely dangerous illegal mines.[4][30]

• 
  Mine in Lysychansk late 19th century in the Russian empire
• 
  Mine in Lysychansk late 19th century in the Russian empire
• 
  Young girls arrive to the mines in Horlivka under the Komsomol appeal on 16 September 1930
• 
  Coal-fired power plant Burshtyn TES

• Energy in Ukraine