Coal news and updates

Coal mining is among the more hazardous occupations in Turkey, underscored by a mishap earlier this year that claimed eight lives. But economic necessity is keeping the country reliant on coal, and pushing miners to risk their lives.

 

Nearly 2,000 feet beneath the surface of a mine in the Kozlu District of Turkey's northwestern Zonguldak Province, miners dig coal from a slit in the roof of a narrow tunnel where they are barely able to stand. It was in this same mine last January that eight miners died following a methane gas leak.Select the reports you are interested in:Who Will be the Big Winners in the Coming LNG BonanzaHow to Play the Coming Boom in Advanced Fracking TechnologyWhy the Subsea Processing Sector will See Huge Gains in the Near FutureInvestment Opportunities in Geothermal Power GenerationMachine to Machine Technology – A $1 Trillion Opportunity!Our Top Water Technology Picks for 2013

 

"They lost their lives. … They had no other options," said Necdet Çebi, a 52-year-old mine manager, referring to the dead miners. He keeps small photos of each gas-leak victim in his desk.

 

Although somber when discussing the tragedy, Çebi grew enthusiastic when descending into the enveloping darkness of the mine, which is operated by the state-owned Turkish Hard Coal Enterprise (TTK) and has an annual output capacity of 600,000 tons. Carrying a massive walkie-talkie and wearing a white scarf around his neck, Çebi said even his wife wondered why he continued in this line of work.

 

His answer echoed the sentiments of many other miners interviewed by EurasiaNet.org: a lack of other job opportunities put him in the mine, but he liked the job.

 

"Nature is the biggest challenge," said Çebi, who is a fourth-generation coal miner from Zonguldak, a province along Turkey's Black Sea coast where mining first began back in the 1800s. French companies built some of the early large-scale mining facilities around the end of World War I. Today, TTK owns five coal mines around Zonguldak and there are dozens of private and unofficial mining operations scattered throughout the province.

 

Turkey currently needs to expand its domestic energy production to meet the demands of its growing economy. Under a government development plan covering the next decade, coal-fired power plants are slated to account for up to 10 percent of the country’s overall power-generating capacity, projected at 90,000 megawatts.

 

 

Source: oilprice.com