VKG will have to split its workforce between two mines
VKG will launch full-scale production at its new Uus-Kiviõli oil shale mine this summer, navigating a challenging operational shift to ensure a continuous material supply as its older Ojamaa mine nears closure.
Oil shale has already been extracted from the new site for several years during the construction phase. Construction of the mine's main building is currently under way, paving the way for large-scale underground production to ramp up soon.
"Actual production will start in June this year — already in a couple of months — and we will hold the official opening in the fall, once the main building is finished," said VKG Kaevandused company CEO Ervin Küttis.
Construction at Uus-Kiviõli began in the summer of 2023 with inclined shafts. Settling basins, access roads, the water supply for the village of Rääsa, a bulk-material conveyor connecting Uus-Kiviõli to Ojamaa, and the power infrastructure have all been completed.
The newly built six-kilometer conveyor is more powerful than the 12-km conveyor already in operation. The existing system transports only raw material from the sorting plant to the oil processing plant. The new conveyor will carry all material extracted underground to the sorting plant — both oil shale and waste rock.
VKG's Ojamaa mine, which opened in 2009, will close at the end of next year. The next year and a half will be challenging, as the company will have to manage more than 500 miners across both sites.
"At the same time, we have to keep building, already produce at Uus-Kiviõli, and continue production at the old mine, because the oil plants don't wait — they need shale all the time," Küttis said.
In total, the Uus-Kiviõli mine contains about 160 million metric tons of marketable oil shale.
Under the initial mining permit, VKG would have had enough oil shale at Uus-Kiviõli for 10 years. After Eesti Energia sold its share of the permit to VKG last year, the projected operating period was extended to 30 years.
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Editor: Argo Ideon
