Watching via videoconference, the President witnessed the launch of a project for industrial extraction of methane from coal seams in the Kuzbass Basin coal fields, saw pieces of mining equipment, and met with miners working at the company.
The Kuzbass Basin’s coal seams are estimated to hold 13.1 trillion cubic metres of methane gas.
The Kedrovka Opencast Coal Mine, located 25 kilometres north of Kemerovo, was put in operation in 1954. Part of the coal produced at the mine goes to the domestic market, and part is exported, in particular to Finland, Germany, Japan, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, and Ukraine.