Since December 2023, the international company Boston Consulting Group, which specialises in management consulting, has been conducting an audit of coal production at Qarmet JSC (formerly known as ArcelorMittal Temirtau). The specialists have shared their observations.
It is reported that the causes of 95% of tragic incidents in mines since 2021 are explosions, fires and gas-dynamic phenomena. International experts proposed implementing a comprehensive modernisation effort, which should begin with the installation of a positioning system at all facilities.
_______________
For reference: The positioning system is designed to track personnel and equipment in underground mines to improve the safety and productivity of the work being carried out.
To manage the systems, it was recommended to create a central control room, which will improve the efficiency of data consolidation in production and speed up responses to external factors, such as ground movements.
_________________
For reference: Data consolidation is a set of methods and procedures aimed at extracting data from various sources, ensuring the necessary level of its informativeness and quality, and converting the data into a unified format.
The specialists also noted irrational investment and the purchase of outdated technological equipment, a lack of a single standard for working conditions in the mines, and other issues.
"Taking into account the results of the BCG audit, a joint working group has been established to determine a detailed comprehensive action plan for modernisation in the coal department until 2028. The goal of the large-scale campaign will be to introduce the best international practices to improve productivity and occupational safety", Qarmet reported.
Earlier, it was reported that at the mines of ArcelorMittal Temirtau, due to management failings, people die every year. For example, in 2006, an explosion at the Lenin mine, located near the city of Shakhtinsk, resulted in the deaths of 41 miners.
In November 2022, at the same mine, during the drilling of gas drainage wells, a sudden gas outburst occurred, causing the deaths of 5 workers.
In August 2023, at the Kazakhstan mine in the Karaganda region, a conveyor belt caught fire. At the time of the accident, 227 people were inside the mine, 5 of whom died.
In October 2023, at the Kostenko mine in the Karaganda region, a methane explosion claimed the lives of 46 people and injured 28 miners. The accident was recognised as the largest in the country's mining history.
It was immediately after this that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered an end to the investment partnership with the corporation ArcelorMittal. Subsequently, ArcelorMittal Temirtau officially came under the jurisdiction of Kazakhstan.
The new investor of the enterprise became Andrey Lavrentiev, and the enterprise was renamed Qarmet. Under the terms of the deal, Lavrentiev is obliged to invest $3 billion in the modernisation of the plant and mines.