There is no problem with the supply of AIS Melitis since the recent decision of the Minister of Environment and Energy Kostas Skrekas to declare the company “Achladas Coal Mines S.A.” which operated the Achlada 1 and 2 mines, which in the past supplied lignite to the most modern lignite unit of PPC. As Antonis Nikos, the director of the Lignite Center of Western Macedonia, said while speaking to APE-MPE, “For 1.5 years, the power supply of the Steam Power Station in Florina was and continues to be 66% from fossil fuel extracted by PPC from the Mavropigi mine in Ptolemaida, while the remaining percentage is covered by the lignite mined by METE SA from the mine of Prosiliou in Kozani”.
The lignite reserves at AIS Ag. are at a good level. Dimitriou
Mr. Nikou mentioned that the lignite reserves in the yard of AIS Ag. Dimitriou “are at a very good level”, while he pointed out that for some time now “the process of feeding the yard with lignite of the 5th unit of Ptolemaida” has started, where according to the schedule in September it will be put into trial operation. The quantities that will be stored for now will be around 100,000 tonnes and are expected to increase shortly before the start of the trial operation. Mr. Nikou explained that “the quantities of lignite cannot remain for a long time in the yards of the NPPs as there is a risk of self-ignition of the fuel”.
The new planning of the Directorate of Mines due to the increased participation of lignite in the mix of the country’s energy fuel foresees the opening of new points in the mine of South Field, works which according to Mr. Nikos “will be largely carried out by contracting companies in the area with lower the participation of seasonal workers hired by PPC”.
In the next period, PPC will proceed with the announcement of 6 major projects at the Notiou Pedi mine for the movement of shafts and the extraction of lignite, while a few days ago the tender for the first earthworks contract was completed.
PPC’s actions have not gone unnoticed by the contracting companies that “ran” a large part of the mining in its mines and now it has raised an alarm.
Stefanos Konstantinidis, owner of one of the largest companies in the field of mining and earthworks, which after a tender took over the first project, stated that a great effort is being made on behalf of his company as well as other fellow companies that were active in PPC’s mines “to collect part of their staff and some to bring them back to the country”. He explained that “many workers throughout the previous period due to lack of objects lost their jobs, while the operators of heavy excavators due to the low wages of the last years were forced to migrate to work in technical companies in Europe and the Middle East”. Mr. Konstantinidis stated that “with many of them we may have walked together for many years in the PPC projects, but in order for these workers to return back, they must be motivated and this cannot be other than much better pay than those that prevailed in the region in recent years”. The situation also seems to be difficult in the field of car trucks, where before de-lignification in the mines there were about 2,100 trucks, today there are only a few left while the many owners have sold them or put them to rest. Here, too, it seems that an effort is being made to assemble the necessary transport fleet of lorries in order to proceed smoothly with the work of opening new points in the PPC mines.
“The fact that PPC invests more in the fuel extraction contractors is due to the early retirement of a large part of the skilled mine personnel such as operators of the giant bucket excavators, foremen and other craftsmen who, taking advantage of the incentives given by PPC, left while others moved to new sectors of the business” says the president of the most populous “Spartakos” Union of PPC in the West. Macedonia Moschos Moschos and adds that “the company may have the machines but it does not have the personnel to proceed with its own means of mining”. He also clarified that certain categories of technical personnel cannot be replaced by the hiring of six-month or two-month employees that the company will proceed one way or another.
Source: Capital
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