Kholodnaya Balka Coal Mine

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Kholodnaya Balka Coal Mine (шахта Холодная Балка) is a mothballed coal mine in Makiivka, Donetsk, Ukraine.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Kholodnaya Balka Coal Mine	Makiivka, Donetsk, Ukraine	48.0018392811975, 38.0522193792562 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the coal mine:

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Mothballed	–	1957	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
0.3	0.324	2019	Underground	–	–	730*	–

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
44	2018	–	–	Bituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Note: To access more comprehensive data on energy ownership, please visit the Global Energy Ownership Tracker.

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Makeevugol State Enterprise [100.0%]	Ministry of Energy of Donetsk People's Republic	Russia

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

Note: The asterisk (*) indicates that the value is an estimated figure based on various factors, including the company's forecasted or reported monthly or quarterly production data, etc.

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
–	0.32*	0.32*	0.32	–	–	0.3*	–	–	–

Note: The above sections were automatically generated and are based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker August 2026 release.

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Background

The Kholodnaya Balka Coal Mine (шахта Холодна Балка) is an underground coal mine located in the Kholodna Balka settlement of Makiivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is operated by Makeevugol State Enterprise, subordinate to the Ministry of Energy of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, controlled by Russia.

According to the official Makeevugol website, the mine was commissioned in 1957 with a design capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year. As of 2018, its installed production capacity stood at 300,000 tonnes per year, with capacity utilisation of 84.4% over the first six months of that year. The last major reconstruction took place in 2003 Industrial reserves stood at 44.694 million tonnes as of 1 January 2018, of which 12.230 million tonnes were in the working seam. The mine produced bituminous coal.

Following the seizure of Makiivka by pro-Russian forces in 2014, Kholodnaya Balka became the most productive mine of Makeevugol and was described by the enterprise's director as its base mine. On 31 March 2015 it commissioned the first new longwall to enter service in the Donetsk People's Republic since the start of the conflict — the fifth western relief longwall of seam h10v — equipped with a KD-80 mechanised support, SP-251 conveyor, and UKD 200/250 shearer, all repaired at Makeevka workshops. Planned daily output was 1,000 tonnes.

By November 2015, the mine had fulfilled its annual production plan ahead of schedule, extracting 451,000 tonnes of coal — described as the largest share of total Makeevugol output.

In 2018, a third eastern longwall was commissioned, with reserves of 860,000 tonnes, a face length of 240 m, and a working field length of 1,800 m. Equipment — a new shearer manufactured at the Horlivka engineering plant and support and conveyor repaired at Makeevka and Donetsk workshops — was sourced entirely within the DPR.

In June 2021, a fourth eastern longwall of seam h10v was commissioned following the completion of the third eastern longwall in March of that year. The new face had 206 powered roof support sections with a total equipment weight exceeding 2,000 tonnes, and a planned daily output of no less than 900 tonnes. It was the fifth new longwall commissioned across all DPR mines since the start of 2021. The face was expected to remain in operation until September 2022.

The mine's recorded production in 2019 was 0.32 Mt.

None of the Makeevugol mines, including Kholodnaya Balka, were taken up by private investors under Russia's 2024 programme to lease occupied-territory coal mines to Russian companies.

No production data or operational updates for the mine were identified beyond 2022. The mine's current status is uncertain; as of April 2026, no evidence of ongoing production was found in publicly available sources.

Associated Coal Mine Methane Mitigation Projects

Some coal mines have installed infrastructure which can use and/or destroy some methane emissions associated with mining. In 2024, the Global Methane Initiative reported that this mine had a mitigation project associated with it. This methodology page describes how GEM classified these projects and linked them with coal mines in the Global Coal Mine Tracker.

Table MM1: Methane mitigation projects

Mitigation Project Name	Project Type	GMI Reported Status	GMI Reported Start Year
Holodnaya Balka Mine Boiler Fuel Project - Ukraine	utilization	Unknown	2000
Holodnaya Balka Mine Combined Heat & Power Project - Ukraine	utilization	Unknown	–

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.