Mechel Reports Halt of Sibirginskaya Mine at Southern Kuzbass Coal Company

Mechel OAO MTL reports the temporary halt of the Sibirginskaya mine owned by Southern Kuzbass Coal Company OAO, which is part of Mechel Mining OAO. At the Sibirginskaya mine, a heightened level of fire gases was detected in the mined-out area of the long wall 3-1-9, which indicates self-heating of coal. Due to that, mining works at the site were halted and all miners returned to the surface. No carbon monoxide was detected in the long wall 3-1-9's active mine-working. Southern Kuzbass Coal Company's experts mapped out measures to prevent this incident's possible negative consequences, which included temporarily isolating the long wall 3-1-9. Experts use remote probing to monitor the content of gases in the long wall's mined-out area. Mining at the Sibirginskaya mine is currently halted, with the mine's experts working on the way to liquidate the source of self-heating. The mine's entire production infrastructure, including transport, ventilation, pumps, power facilities, tunneling faces and active mine-working areas are operational and safe.