Kuznetsk Coal Basin

Kuznetsk Coal Basin

Kuznetsk Coal Basin, byname Kuzbass, Russian Kuznetsky Ugolny Basseyn, one of the largest producing coalfields of Russia, in Kemerovo oblast (province), south-central Russia. It lies in the basin of the Tom River between the Kuznetsk Alatau and Salair mountain ranges.

The coalfield was first discovered in 1721. It covers about 10,000 square miles (26,000 square km) and contains minable reserves in excess of 300 billion tons, distinguished by thickness of seam and concentration. There are three main coal-bearing series. The Balakhonka Series, the oldest, contains 30–35 workable seams, some up to 50 feet (15 metres) thick and in places reaching 130 feet (40 metres). These seams contain anthracite and the richest coking and steam coals of the Kuznetsk Basin. Kuznetsk Basin coal is generally of high quality, with less than 1 percent sulfur but sometimes with a rather high ash content, necessitating pithead enrichment. About one-quarter of it is mined by open-cast methods, chiefly in the north. As a result, production costs are low, especially in comparison with the Donets Basin coalfield, another of the major coal producers.

The first small diggings for coal, along the Kondoma River, date from 1721. Production long remained insignificant, but in the First Soviet Five-Year Plan (1928–32) large-scale exploitation was begun, and development since then has been rapid and continuous. The development of the coalfield was accompanied by the growth of a heavy-industrial area. Before World War II the Urals-Kuznetsk Basin kombinat (iron and steel complex) was established, with the Kuznetsk Basin supplying coking coal to the Urals and receiving iron ore in return. Giant iron- and steelworks were set up at Magnitogorsk in the Urals and at Stalinsk (now Novokuznetsk) in the Kuznetsk Basin. A second huge iron- and steelworks was built in Novokuznetsk in the 1960s. Nonferrous metallurgy is also important in the Kuznetsk Basin, especially at Novokuznetsk, and is based on bauxite from the Salair Ridge and on lead, zinc, tin, copper, and mercury from the adjoining Altay kray (region). Engineering and metalworking are widespread in all the major towns, with the emphasis on the production of heavy machinery. The coke-chemical industry is well developed in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, and Anzhero-Sudzhensk and forms the basis for the manufacture of plastics, fertilizers, and pharmaceutical goods. The main coal-mining centres are Anzhero-Sudzhensk, Kemerovo, Leninsk-Kuznetsky, Prokopyevsk, Osinniki, and Kiselyovsk.