Krasnyi Lyman Sloviansk S Kramatorsk Druzhkivka Dobropillia Krasnoarmiisk Dymytrov


Novohrodivka Selydove


Avdiivka Kuakhove Vel. Novosilka Marinka Donetsk Dokuchaievsk Volnovakha Horlivka


Yasynuvata Makiivka


Yenakiieve Zhdanivka


Amvrosiivka Khartsyzk


Komsomolske


Shakhtarsk Torez


Artemivsk


Kostiantynivka Dzerzhynsk


Debaltseve i v . Siversk


operations. Tree hundred mineral deposits are being mined, there are 1,230 km of oil, gas and ammonia pipelines, and 113 other operations using radioactive materials.


Snizhne


But that living comes at a fearful price. What stands out starkly is the most harmful industry in Donbas: mining. If once the mines were in a workable state, today all too many are death-traps. Of 284 mines, 100 were commissioned around 45 years ago and 52 have been working for about a century. Over 25 per cent of the sta- tionary equipment has exceeded its recommended service life, and about half the surface systems have been operating for 40 years without being upgraded at all. Production facilities have deteriorated significantly.


Mariupol Novoazovsk Yalta Industry in Donetsk Oblast


Thermal power plants Metallurgical works


Coking and chemical enterprises Mines, mining enterprises and open pits


Map produced for ENVSEC by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 Source: The Land of our Concern, Ministery of Environmental Protection of Ukraine, Donetsk 2010


30


As a result coal production has fallen, as has productivity, while the cost of production has risen. Mine output has more than halved, from 165 mil- lion tonnes in 1990 to less than 80 million in 2007. Technologically and economically, coal mining in Don- bas appears to be very inefficient. Average monthly productivity is 21.7 tonnes per miner, substantially lower than in leading coal-producing countries, and barely a fiſth of what


Alexey Stakhanov is reputed to have produced in a single shiſt.


Despite hundreds of millions of dol- lars in government subsidies, many mines are still not profitable for techni- cal as well as market reasons. In 2002, average coal mining productivity in Ukraine was approximately 320 tonnes per miner per year – less than half the figure for Poland and a tenth of the UK equivalent. Te World Bank has ad- vised Ukraine to close half its mines, but only a small fraction have in fact shut. At present 85 mines are operat- ing in the Donetsk Oblast. Production is about 70 to 80 million tonnes annu- ally, down from the 1970s high point of about 210 million tonnes a year.


Ukraine’s mines, however rundown they may be, still mean livelihoods for individuals, life for communi- ties and earnings for the national exchequer. But these gains come at a mounting price. Ukraine’s mines are not only largely unprofitable. Tey have one of the highest accident rates in the world, because of poor main- tenance and neglect of safety regula- tions. Mine officials believe unsafe conditions and irregular payment of wages have prompted many workers to leave the industry, reducing the


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