26 June 2018
A group of pupils from Belovo district, has visited the territory of the Karakan Natural Reserve Area and Vinogradovsky Open Pit Mine (PJSC KTK)
On 25 June a group of pupils from Belovo district, accompanied by the environmental task force, visited the territory of the Karakan Natural Reserve Area and Vinogradovsky Open Pit Mine during the educational field trip.
During the trip the children could visit a local natural reserve area - the Karakan Natural Reserve, later they visited an experimental range of Vinogradovsky Open Pit Mine, where for the fourth year running workers of the Kuzbass Botanical Garden have been making experiments of restoration of the natural steppe vegetation.
Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Company gives particular importance to the restoration of the derelict areas – the Company provided the scientists with the conditions for the development of a new restoration technology which is aimed at the formation of continuously stable vegetation communities based on the local flora species.
As noted by Yuri Manakov, Doctor of Biology, the dumps at open-pit mines are often reclaimed with planting of pines and sea buckthorns, whereas the restoration of the disturbed lands is a unique practice.
PJSC KTK is planning to spread this positive experience to the other sites of its own open pit mines, which are required to be restored.
The next stage of the tour was visiting the viewpoint where coal surface mining is carried out. Another object of interest was the washing plant.
Vasily Erin, an associate professor of the Department of Labour Environmental Law and Civil Proceedings, Institute of Law, Kemerovo State University, noted that such coordination between the miners and the biologists was an excellent way to solve the problems regarding conservation of biological diversity along with the simultaneous coal mining.
Karakan Regional Natural Reserve Area was founded in 2012; about 550 vascular plants are found in the area, 10 species of which are listed in the Red Books of different ranks. Moreover, this is a habitat for rare species of birds of prey common for the steppe landscape. Taking into account the high natural value of these areas the KTK management made a decision to donate patches of land owned by the Company for organization of the natural reserve area.
