Normally, the mine belonging to the Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, visited by “Le Monde”, has 4,000 employees. War has subtracted 800 to him, who left to fight against the Russian invader.
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Today, in the Ukrainian Donbass, descending 460 meters underground offers a feeling of comfort. At this depth, no risk of being affected by one of the projectiles abundantly sent to the region by the Russian army. But the impression is misleading. A coal mine remains a dangerous place by nature. And very vulnerable to a bombardment. A strike on the only elevator would block minors at the bottom of the mine. The destruction of the electricity generator would stop the continuous pumping of water and methane, causing a catastrophic flood and an accumulation of explosive gas in underground galleries.
This is why the place of the coal mine visited by Le Monde Wednesday April 27 will remain anonymous. Its owner, the DTEK group, which belongs to the Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, requires it for security reasons. The road leading to the mine is kept by soldiers, who have installed a checkpoint, dug trenches and deployed a light armored vehicle.
The mine has a characteristic silhouette, visible tens of kilometers around: two huge concrete towers, one of which peaks 100 meters high. These are the elevators. The most massive and the highest brought up the coal mixed with operating residues. The second, far from a hundred meters, allows minors and equipment to circulate between the surface and the vast system of underground galleries. An element is lacking in the usual profile of a mine: the terril, this gigantic black cone that is observed in all mining regions of the world.
“We use a” recultivation “technology, which consists in reinjecting part of the mining residues at the bottom of the mine, in the galleries which have become unusable. The other part is deposited on the surface, where the ground has Shaved because of underground exploitation. Pollutants, and sometimes toxic – are covered with a sufficient thickness of fertile land for the landscape and the environment to be less affected, “explains the director, who, for reasons security, does not wish to give its name.
Soviet nostalgia
Normally, the mine has 4,000 employees. War has removed 800 from it, who left to fight against the Russian invader. Half is voluntarily committed, the other was mobilized. Traveling a gallery 460 meters underground, the director of the mine recognizes that “production is very slowed down for lack of arms. We are forced to reduce the exploited areas. But we continue to work hard because Ukraine needs our coal to produce electricity, “he explains. For him, this war is “insane”, because “Ukraine is a peaceful country”. He underlines that “the working language here has always been Russian. This is no problem, even if everything that is written must be in Ukrainian. This is normal in Ukraine”.
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