The mine is owned by coal mining company Pavlohradvuhillia, which has ambitious plans to introduce 34 new coal faces this year.

The longwall is 150m wide and a low-seam operation at 1.3m, Ukrainian News reported.

"In the course of the first month this longwall will put out 1074 tons a day, while a month later the output will rise to 1110 tons a day," production director Volodymyr Poida said in a company announcement earlier this month.

According to statistics from the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), Ukraine has 37.6 billion tons in proven coal reserves, 17.9Bt of which is anthracite and bituminous coal, and 19.7Bt of which is lignite and sub-bituminous.

Most of Ukraine's coal is mined in the Donetsk/Donbas basin in the east of the country.

In 2003 Ukraine produced 63Mt of coal but consumed 67Mt, making it a net importer.

The Ukraine coal industry has been plagued by industrial action, low productivity and fatalities but funding by the World Bank and government moves to privatise the industry has brought slow progress over the past few years.