In the eastern part of the Field E open cast mine, in the afternoon of January 24th, the existing landslide was activated and the production of the bucket wheel excavator no. 7, working on the extraction of coal on the ECL system, was temporarily stopped.
The emergency response teams immediately visited the field, and coal production in the MB Kolubara Branch was not jeopardized. No workers were injured and household electricity supply was not affected in the area of mining operations.
Field work is underway, and it is expected that the excavator, after removing the soil that partially buried one of the external tracks of the bucket wheel excavator no. 7, will be transported to the site, where the previously planned preventive mechanical works will be carried out in the next ten days. The operation of the bucket wheel excavator no. 8 will be increased, and bucket wheel excavator no. 2 will be activated on Friday as well in order to compensate for the amount of coal dug by the bucket wheel excavator no. 7.
The operation of all production capacities of Electric Power Industry of Serbia is stable, and there are 1.48 million tons of coal in the EPS’ thermal power plant landfills, which exceeds the plan by 5.4 percent, and the landfills are completely ready. The supply of electricity to citizens and the economy is secure, and during January EPS exported EUR 12.4 million of electricity. In the following days, electricity exports ranging from 7 to 10 million kilowatt-hours (7-10 GWh) per day will continue.
