Kemerovo, Russian Federation
OJSC “Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Company” (“Company” or “КТК”, (RTS/MICEX: “KBTK”), one of the fastest-growing thermal coal producers in Russia, is pleased to announce today the opening of a new Enrichment plant “Kaskad” (“EP “Kaskad") at its Cheremshansky open-pit mine. The opening ceremony took place today and was attended by Andrey Malakhov, Deputy Governor of the Kemerovo region and Igor Prokudin, CEO of KTK.
The launch of EP “Kaskad” with a designed capacity of 2.0 million tonnes per year will allow the Company to gradually increase the volume of enrichment of coal produced at the Cheremshansky open-pit mine.
OP “Kaskad” is the first plant, which will be put into operation by KTK. The Company plans to open 2 more enrichment facilities at is open-pit mines with an aggregate capacity of 8.5 million tonnes of coal per annum.. With an investment of 850 million rubles the construction of enrichment plant “Kaskad” was completed in 8 months.
The enrichment plant “Kaskad” was designed and constructed in accordance with the world’s best practice and highest environmental standards. It is innovative year-round operation facility equipped with modern automatic control system. Closed water-mud cycle, absence of thermal drying and external hydro engineering facilities, ensures high level of environmental standards at the enrichment plant. .The main method of product enrichment used at the new facility is enrichment at steeply inclined separator with rising water stream. As a result of processing ash content and coal moisture are decreasing significantly and calorific value of the coal is increasing as a result the environmental standard of the product improves to meet export standards.
Commenting on the opening of the new enrichment plant, Igor Prokudin, CEO of KTK said:”The opening of enrichment plant “Kaskad” is another step in implementation of our strategy, aimed at product’s quality enhancement. New enrichment facility will allow us to increase the volumes of sorted coal sales, reduce transportation costs, diversify customer base by widening our export sales channels and as a result to increase our margins”.
For more information please contact:
Financial Dynamics Moscow
Tatiana Kosheleva
Leonid Solovyev
+7 495 795 06 23
OJSC "Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Company" Kemerovo
Elena Sarycheva
Head of public affars department
+7 384 236 47 62
For investor enquiries please contact:
OJSC "Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Company" Moscow
Anton Rumyantsev
Investor relatinons manager
+7 495 787 68 05
Company Overview
OJSC Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Company (“KTK” or the “Company”), is one of the fastest-growing thermal coal producers in Russia. In terms of the 2009 production volume, it was ranked 7th among the largest thermal coal producers in the country. In the ten years since its establishment in 2000, the Company has commissioned and launched three open-pit mines, achieving annual production volume of 6.15 million tonnes of coal in 2009. The Company expects to continue to grow its production volume, in particular, following the launch of the Cheremshansky mine in 2008 and ongoing investments into its high performance modern mining technology, aimed at achieving the aggregate structural capacity 1 of existing mines of 11 million tonnes of coal per year.
According to IMC, the Company’s JORC coal resources totalled 409.3 million tonnes of ROM coal as of January 1, 2010, of which 191.6 million tonnes were proven and probable reserves, recoverable during the period of 2010-2029. The Company produces exclusively high quality thermal coal, classified as grade “D” under the Russian classification system, with a naturally low sulphur and phosphorus content, as well as a relatively high calorific value.
The Company conducts mining operations at three open-pit mines, located in the Kuzbass area, Russia’s largest coal producing region. The Company’s mining operations are supported by an extensive production and logistics infrastructure, including its own railway network and facilities, which enable the Company to transport 100% of produced coal from the open-pit mines to the main railway hub at the long-distance railway network, operated by the Russian Railways. Furthermore, as the Company’s mines are compactly located within 5 km of each other, a number of operations are conducted centrally, thereby minimising overhead costs and expenses.
In 2009, the Company’s total coal sales amounted to 7.4 million tonnes of coal, of which 6.0 million tonnes were extracted by the Company and 1.4 million tonnes were retailed after purchasing from other coal producers. The Company maintains a diversified sales structure balanced between export and domestic sales with approximately 64% of the coal sold to domestic consumers and approximately 36% exported, primarily to Poland, South Korea and China, in 2009.
The Company’s strong regional presence is supported by an extensive retail distribution network, located throughout the Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Altay regions of Western Siberia. As of 31 December 2009, the Company’s distribution network included 60 owned and operated points of sale and delivered 2.8 million tonnes of coal in 2009, positioning KTK as one of the principal suppliers of coal to retail customers in Western Siberia.
FY 2009 Financial Highlights
For more information please contact:
Financial Dynamics Moscow
Oleg Leonov
Leonid Solovyev
+7 495 795 06 23
1 The maximum production capacity that the Company believes could be achieved (taking into account projected stoppages for planned repair and maintenance) in an annual period if the Company were able to process all the coal that could be mined using the Company’s existing mine facilities after acquisition of certain mining and transportation equipment in accordance with its current capital expenditure program
2 EBITDA for each period is defined as results from operating activities, adjusted for amortisation and depreciation, impairment loss and loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment. EBITDA is not a measurement of the Company’s operating performance under IFRS and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, operating income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with IFRS or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities or as a measure of the Company’s liquidity.
