The coal basin near Moscow or, as it is also called - Mosbass, is located on the territory of several regions of the country. This field is considered brown coal.
The beginning of the story
For the first time, mineral reserves in this area were discovered back in 1772. The extraction of raw materials began to be carried out only in 1786. At this time, the first adit belonging to the coal basin near Moscow was opened. It was located in the Novgorod region in the area of the city of Borovichi. It is worth noting that by the middle of the XIX century the number of deposits that were discovered on the territory of Mosbass reached 76. However, they were not developed continuously, but only occasionally.
The first systematic mining in the Moscow coal basin was organized only in 1855 by Count Bobrinsky. The location of the production was concentrated near the village of Malevka. Currently, this area belongs to the Bogoroditsky district of the Tula region. About 18 thousand tons of coal were mined in this area in 1856.
Mines work
The history of the development of mines in this area and the general industry for mining was not very productive and not constant. The reason for this was that there was a monopoly of foreign capital in this sphere of production. After 6 years, in 1862, coal mining began in the area of the village of Tarkovo, and after some time in other places of Mosbass. However, the mines did not work continuously, but seasonally, for the above reason.
It is worth noting here that the lack of mechanization, as well as the general disorganization of coal mining in the coal basin near Moscow at that time, led to the fact that the annual production of the entire Tula region was no more than 700 thousand tons per year. This indicator was observed at the beginning of the XX century. Compared with the development of modern mines, the whole region produced as much raw materials as now only one modern mine produces. However, such an indicator was equal to the fact that Mosbass in 1913 brought 24% of the total gross output of the entire province.
Beginning of work
The coal basin near Moscow in Russia is the oldest place for coal mining. And this is despite the fact that full-scale production of raw materials in this area began only in 1920. The reason for this was the development of the project, according to which the idea of using local fuel resources was realized. The second reason was that there was a need for coal supplies to the Central region due to the ongoing civil war. Development on an industrial scale was carried out in areas such as Tver, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk.
Further, it is worth noting that in 1941 the Tula region was considered the most developed area of Mosbass in terms of coal mining. However, active military operations took place there at that time, because of which many mines were blown up or flooded. But here it is worth adding that due to the occupation of Donbass, immediately after the liberation of this area, work on the extraction of raw materials was resumed.
Post-war time
After the end of hostilities, the prospects for the Moscow coal basin were quite large. 90% of all coal mined in the territory of Mosbass was concentrated in the Tula region. The highest rate of extracted raw materials was recorded in 1957. During this period, 44 million tons of coal were mined.
It is also worth noting that for 20 years, from the 1940s and through the 1960s, a technology called coal gasification was actively used on the territory of this basin. Each of the deposits of raw materials was able to produce more than 100 thousand tons per year. Opening of sections began in 1958 with the Tula region. The first place was designated as the Kimovsky open pit. Three more followed: Bogoroditsky, Gryzlovsky, Ushakovsky.
The development of Mosbass to the present day
In the 60s, a gradual decrease in coal production in the basin was recorded. The problems of the coal basin of the Moscow Region basin were that the quality of the extracted raw materials turned out to be low. At the same time, deliveries of cheaper raw materials - natural gas, as well as fuel oil - begin to the central regions of the country.
The quality of coal from Mosbass - the average ash content of 31%, 3% sulfur, 33% moisture, as well as the calorific value of 11.4-28.2 MJ / kg - began to be considered poor. In addition, the cost of extraction of this substance was quite high due to the fact that there was too much water cut in the reservoirs. For these reasons, in the 1980s and 90s, almost all the mines of the Moscow coal basin were closed. Until 2009, the last mine with the name "Moscow Region" worked. However, this facility was also closed this year. If we take the entire period of operation of Mosbass, it delivered more than 1.2 billion tons of coal to the country for the entire time. At present, the extraction of this raw material in the basin is not conducted.
The main consumers of coal were local industrial enterprises. The largest of these were power plants. Even by 2000, the local energy structure was considered the largest consumer of local coal.
Characteristic of the coal basin near Moscow
If we talk about the parameters of the pool, then they are quite impressive. The total length of coal deposits is about 120 thousand km. This is taking into account the fact that only a depth of up to 200 m was taken into account. The width of the arc-shaped strip of production is from 80 to 100 km. At the beginning of 2000, stocks of raw materials in this basin were estimated at 1.5 billion tons.
It is important to note that strata of minerals alternate with strata of waste rock. Due to intermittent bedding of formations, which are often encountered by floaters, the operation of Mosbass is very complicated. Since this object is a brown coal mining site, and it, in turn, is quite easily oxidized in the mine, when it is extracted in the air, an increased content of carbon dioxide is always observed. This factor leads to the formation of gas contamination of workings, which threatens the lives of all workers. Another difficulty in the development of this field was the fact that there was a high water cut in the strata.
Because of all these characteristics, the development prospect of the Moscow Region Coal Basin is practically not discussed.
The main parameters of Mosbass
The bedding of brown coal seams in this basin is almost horizontal. They are located at a depth of 50 to 150 meters. The thickness of all layers is 2-4 m or more. The average indicator for this parameter is 2.5 m. Brown coal mined in this region of low quality, as the ash content is in the region from 25 to 40%, sulfur content from 2 to 6%, humidity from 30 to 35%. An important indicator that the extraction of raw materials in Mosbass is not profitable is the average cost of production, which exceeds the average indicator throughout the industry by 38%.
In the early stages of development, this pool worked quite actively and supplied a significant amount of raw materials. However, already in the post-war period, the development and mining of coal was greatly reduced. The volume of extracted material did not exceed 40 million tons per year.
Since 1993, the year the basin was restructured, during which 24 of the 28 main mines were closed. After that, only three mines functioned, as well as one section.
Other perspectives
Despite the fact that the extraction of brown coal in the territory of Mosbass is not reasonable, it has deposits of other minerals that can be mined.
The group of such minerals includes the thickness of halogen sediments, the thickness of which is from 35 to 50 m. The bedding is at a depth of 730 to 988 meters. The raw material is rock salt, which is 93-95% halite. It is important to note here that this raw material is characterized by seasoned power and good quality. According to experts, the number of rock salt deposits throughout the Moscow coal basin is in the region of 657 billion tons.
Pool Features
In addition to rock salt deposits, fossils such as gypsum are also observed there. This substance is confined to the lagoon-carbonate-gypsum deposits of the lakes of the Upper Devonian. The thickness of this thickness is from 8 to 49 meters, but the average is from 15 to 25 meters. Depth of seams from 32 to 300 meters. A gradual sinking of these layers to the central parts of the Moscow syneclise is observed. Today, only one field is being developed - Novomoskovsky. Experts estimate the mineral reserves in this area at 858.7 million tons.
Due to the geological structure of the coal basin near Moscow, there are deposits of such rocks as carbonate in it. This material is characterized by rather high quality, good mining performance, high power, low water cut. About 150 deposits of carbonate rocks were found throughout the territory of Mosbass. The total number of reserves from all deposits in this section exceeds 1 billion m 3 .