Mechel announced the resumption of coal production at Mechel Bluestone (West Virginia, U.S.), which is part of the group’s mining division. As a result of declining supplies of coal in storage, Mechel decided to resume open pit mining at Mechel Bluestone, which includes coal mining complexes Justice Energy and Dynamic Energy. Target monthly production volume at these facilities is about 135 thousand tons. Coking coal is expected to account for over 90 percent of the total production figure.

Mechel Bluestone mines high quality low-, mid-, and high-volatile hard coking coal. Total annual output is about five million tons of coal. Mechel Bluestone’s total mineral reserves as of May 1, 2011 were estimated at some 150 million tons. The bulk of the reserves is low-volatile hard coking coal.