Donetsk, Aug 10 — DAN. Powered supports for coal faces up to 4.1 meters high designed in the Donetsk People’s Republic are no worse than foreign counterparts and can substitute them, DPR Science and Technology Committee Chairman Oleg Demchenko told the Donetsk News Agency on Thursday.

“Designing high-level mining equipment is our strong point in research and development, ” Demchenko said. “The immediate priority is to design and produce competitive machines which will be supplied to coal producers in Russian regions, Kazakhstan and other countries.”

In Russia, a considerable number of coal faces are equipped with powered supports supplied by Poland, German, the USA, and China, he said. 

A double coal drill auger is being designed for thin and gently inclined beds of coal mines in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the Rostov region where standard equipment cannot ensure profitable production, Demchenko said.

The Donetsk News Agency earlier reported that three DPR institutes had designed a cutting-edge coal-mining machine.*jk