Pivdennodonbaska 1 Coal Mine

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Pivdennodonbaska 1 Coal Mine (Шахта Південнодонбаськa №1) is a closed coal mine in Vuhledar, Volnovakha, Donetsk, Ukraine.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Pivdennodonbaska 1 Coal Mine	Vuhledar, Volnovakha, Donetsk, Ukraine	47.791167, 37.289284 (exact)

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

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Mothballed	War in Ukraine	1973	–

Table 3: Operation details

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	0.22	2021	Underground	Longwall	–	420.0	2262

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
–	–	–	–	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
Mine Management Pivdennodonbaske No.1 [100%]	Ministry of Energy (Ukraine) [100.0%]	Ukraine

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker May 2025 release.

Ownership Tree

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

Background

The Pivdennodonbaska 1 Coal Mine (also known as the Yuzhnodonbasskaya 1 Coal Mine) is an underground coal mine in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The Pivdennodonbaska 1 coal mine is an underground coal mine. It is owned by the state-owned company Mine Management Pivdennodonbaske No.1.

As of March 2020, the state-owned company running the mine was bankrupt, and was being threatened with electricity disconnection by Ukrenergo, the state-owned power company. The mine had not paid its power bills in years, and had only paid miners' salaries intermittently. If the mine's power were cut off, however, water pumps would stop working, and both the mine and the neighbouring Pivdennodonbaska 3 Coal Mine would be flooded within a few days — resulting in an environmental catastrophe, as the groundwater for surrounding towns would be contaminated with iron and chemicals from the mine. However the mine appeared to continue operations.

In January 2022, the mine once again found itself under threat of shutdown due to debts for electricity.

Since March 2022 and still as of January 2024, Vuhledar has been a site of intense fighting in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The mine was therefore assumed Mothballed since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The fighting has completely destroyed and depopulated the mining town Vuhledar. Russian media source from January 2024 reported that the Pivdennodonbaska 1 coal mine and the Pivdennodonbaska 3 Coal Mine are used as as defensive facilities by the Ukrainian military forces.

In September 2024, as Russian forces intensified their assault on Vuhledar, the Pivdennodonbaska 1 mine served as Ukrainian defensive strongpoints. Heavy fighting took place directly at the mine facilities throughout mid-September. On 2 October 2024, the Ukrainian military officially confirmed its withdrawal from the city. Ukranian media reported that the mines was effectively destroyed by Russian air and artillery strikes during the battle. Satellite imagery published in June 2025 confirmed that the Pivdennodonbaska mine had been completely destroyed.

The Pivdennodonbaska 1 Coal Mine was classified as closed as of April 2026, given the complete destruction of its surface infrastructure and the occupation of Vuhledar.

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.