In the next 18 months up to 15 Russian coal mines are slated for closure, Deputy Energy Industry Minister Leonid Tropko told the press on Friday.
Almost 200 coal mines are currently being liquidated, and will be closed down within ten years, during which time the industry will be restructured, he said.
Tropko said the industry needed a law under which managers would be required to pass exams to confirm their ability to manage mines, in particular financially.
As an example, he cited the Zapadnaya-Kapitalnaya mine, where 46 people were trapped after the mine was flooded by an underground lake last week.
The charter capital of Rostovugol, the company that manages the mine, totals 2 million rubles while its debts are nearly one billion rubles, Tropko said.
"Legislation must ban privatization by companies whose charter capital is smaller than the value of the enterprise being privatized and whose risks cannot be offset. In some cases the charter capital of the managing company is tens of thousands of dollars while the company to be managed is worth billions," he said.
