UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 29, 2017. Russian Copper Company presented its project on reclamation of territory currently covered by Korkinsky Mine at the 8th Neva International Environmental Congress, the company press service reports.

The presentation was part of a round table discussion on the Urals’ environment and innovations in the field. The attending experts, government officials, and business community representatives all had their concerns about the situation in Korkino, Chelyabinsk Region, where Europe’s largest coal mine is situated. The facility is a threat to the locals’ well-being as well as to the Southern Urals’ entire environment.

In order to put an end to the soil slip and the endogenous fires in the mine, Russian Copper Company proposes to restore the territory with special backfilling material obtained from Tominsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise’s concentration tailings. The company expects to build the enterprise in the area soon. According to the company’s Director for the Environment, Job Safety, and Industrial Safety Natalia Gonchar, a recent technical estimate by a group of experts from Saint Petersburg Mining University of whether the solution is feasible and environmentally safe made it clear that reclaiming Korkinsky Mine with backfilling material would help prevent endogenous fires, reduce dust exhausts, and reinforce the mine edges.