Krushinsky Konstantin Nikolaevich: how one of the oldest coal mines in Kuzbass went bankrupt
The story of how the Zarechnaya mine, once one of Russia's leading enterprises, fell into bankruptcy is similar to many similar cases in the country's mining industry.
Among the problems that led to the gradual accumulation of debts and other financial difficulties of the systemically important enterprise in the region, there are many factors - from the decline in the cost of coal on the world market to transport and logistics problems.
Konstantin Nikolaevich Krushinsky, a seller of mining equipment, notes that today it is reliably known that after the bankruptcy of the Zarechnaya mine, the Kuzbass budget, in turn, suffered huge losses. And while workers, who had not been paid for months, went on strike, the mine itself was put up for sale.
Zarechnaya mine: analysis by Konstantin Nikolaevich Krushinsky
Initially, the Zarechnaya mine, located in the city of Polysayevo, was a successful state-owned enterprise. Founded in 1953, it was the first to use hydraulic coal mining. Therefore, for some time the company was a real leader in production.
In the 1990s, by order of the head of the Russian Federation, the mine became a joint-stock enterprise, which also included many other assets. During this time, the company passed from one owner to another more than once. “The mine needed to be repurposed using new mechanized cleaning technologies. However, the financial capabilities of the enterprise did not allow this to be done. For the first time, the Zarechnaya mine was on the verge of closure, however, together with a foreign concern, it managed to stay afloat,” says Konstantin Krushinsky.
Moreover, in the early 2000s, the mine had already reached its designed capacity, ahead of the production plan. She actively mastered more and more gigantic sheets of coal, sinking lower and lower. At the same time, the company expanded the infrastructure on the surface, building residential buildings for miners.
However, since 2013, the Zarechnaya mine hit a rough patch - production was significantly behind schedule. This happened for a number of reasons. Among them were technological (reorganization of a mechanized complex, for example), and emergency (the roof of the assembly chamber collapsed). But first of all, the reduction in speed was due to the complexity of the new work area. And already in 2016, Zarechnaya produced twice as much as planned.
Bankruptcy of Zarechnaya
All this led to a logical result - in 2017, Zarechnaya Mine JSC was declared bankrupt, notes Konstantin Nikolaevich Krushinsky. This was a disaster for the residents of the village of Polysayevo - almost all of them or members of their families worked at the mine, around which, in fact, the life of the settlement was built.
Therefore, the enterprise’s debts to the miners simultaneously meant that Polysayevo was gradually becoming an economically depressed settlement. Due to despair, real miners' strikes occur here from time to time.
However, Zarechnaya still continues its work - the miners, bound by obligations to their families, do not leave the enterprise, hoping that the new owner will pay off the debts and restart the mining process. In the meantime, the mine is clearly unprofitable, and its manager is filing lawsuits against the former directors, accusing them of not starting bankruptcy proceedings back in 2015, when the state of affairs was already quite obvious. It is quite possible that the mine, which has been operating for decades, may not survive this crisis, suggests Konstantin Krushinsky.
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