HUGE SINKHOLE APPEARS NEAR A MINE IN THE MIDDLE OF A RUSSIAN TOWN

Huge hole opened up several miles to the east of a potash mine in Russia

Despite the collapse miners made it out without any major injuries

Around 2,000 workers told to stay at home while fate of site is decided 

 

A gaping sinkhole has opened up in the Perm region of Russia after the flooding of a nearby potash mine.

 

The sudden collapse led to the suspension work at Solikamsk-2, owned by the world's number one potash producer.  The hole - described as being between 100 and 130ft in diameter - appeared several miles to the east of the mine in Perm region.

 

Some 2,000 miners were ordered to stay at home as an assessment is undertaken into the safety of the flooded shaft.  Workers in the mine were evacuated safely.  The flooding is a blow to fertiliser giant Uralkali, which is traded on the London and Moscow stock exchanges.

 

Solikamsk-2 mine is reported to have reserves of 150million tons amid fears that the mine will have to close.  The plant has an annual capacity of 2.3million tons of potash, a crop nutrient.

 

'We estimate that up to 24 per cent of the company's capacity might be affected, with another 20 per cent of capacity in geographical proximity to the flooded mine,' said Renaissance Capital investment bank.  'We can not say that the mine is lost for the company,' said Dmitry Mazepin, the company's deputy chairman.

 

The cause of the sinkhole is seen as different to the appearance of craters in northern regions of Siberia recently.  The Siberian craters - in permafrost regions - are seen as the result of the melting of soil containing gas hydrates, leading to dramatic blowouts.

 

Source

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2842997/Giant-130ft-wide-sinkhole-appears-near-Russian-flooding-forcing-thousands-miners-stay-homes.html

 

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