The miners from Petrila, Hunedoara county, brought out Friday at surface, the last wagon of coal, while the mine will be closed, according to the commitments taken by Romania to the European Union, each taking as a souvenir one lump of coal, informs Mediafax.
“Today (Friday – No) we marked a sad event for both the Jiu Valley mining community as well as for the local community in the Jiu Valley namely extracting the last ton of coal from the Petrila Mine. It is an activity which ended in accordance with European Union decisions and commitments made long ago. We respected that closure plan, namely extracting the last ton of coal which took place today, following that the actual undergrounf work to run until December 31st, when all of the Petrila Mine’s underground galleries will be closed. The year 2016 will be dedicated to surface green works,” said Aurel Anghel, General Manager of the company entrusted with the closure of the unviable mines in the Jiu Valley.
According to him, the bringing of the coal wagon to the surface was marked by speeches, those present thanked the miners who worked in time at Petrila.
“It was a fairly short event because it is a sad event. We extracted the last coal wagon which was also engraved with the words <<Last ton of coal. Petrila Mine. 30.10.2015>>. The hymn of the miners was sang at the bringing out to the surface of the coal wagon, some speeches were held by the mine’s management, by the management of the National Coal Company, the former management of the Petrila mine, by the Deputy Mayor, everyone synthesized the gratitude to those who worked in the Petrila mine, to the courage and dedication that they have shown in this quite hard work and the last ton of coal was discreetly marked,” he also said.
“Everyone and all the guests took as a souvenir a few lumps of coal from that coal wagon, which was then presented in an exhibition, in a cultural association of the local community,” added Anghel.
The production at the Petrila mine has been stopped, according to international commitments, and some of the miners will be dismissed, the remainder to be redeployed at the Paroşeni and Uricani mines. The seven buildings of the Petrila Mine are undertaking expertise by the Ministry of Culture, in order to be declared historic monuments.
The government will allocate this year a state aid worth 143.4 million lei (32.3 million euros) for the proper closure of the uncompetitive coal mines of the National Society of Mine Closures Jiu Valley Petrosani SA. The state aid is borne entirely by the state budget, through the Ministry of Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises and Businesses, and it was approved by the European Commission in 2012.
The total amount will be broken down for energy supplied by coal mines in the process of final closure, which will receive 93.3 million lei to cover the losses on the current production, and for units in the process of final closure, which will be allocated 50,1 million lei to bear the exceptional costs not related to the current production, says the explanatory note of a Government decision draft.
Also, the amount of 25.8 million lei will be used for compensation payments, while for the mine closure works, there will be used 24.3 million lei. For facilities for the pensioners and retraining employees, no funds were allocated.