UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 10, 2020. EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company’s Raspadskaya-Koksovaya Mine launched its first large-diameter well meant for better airing of mine tunnels.

According to EVRAZ Holding’s PR Department, Raspadskaya Coal Company first used a new drilling technology involving Robbins 73RH raiseboring rig at Yerunakovskaya VIII Mine about a year ago.

‘This equipment hadn’t ever been used at Russia’s coal-mining companies at the time. The rest of the world, however, knows this to be some of the safest and the most efficient ways of making large-diameter wells,’ the company says.

Now Raspadskaya-Koksovaya Mine needed an additional minefield wing conduit to ensure better air supply into the mine. This normally takes two to two and a half years to complete. With Robbins 73RH raiseboring rig, however, the well was ready in 2.5 months, and the airing quality improved considerably.

The current well is 461 meters deep. Given the company’s output plans, Raspadskaya-Koksovaya Mine will need two more large-diameter wells to ensure proper airing and methane drainage.