Dnipro Lignite Coal Basin

Dnipro Lignite Coal Basin (Дніпровський буровугільний басейн; Dniprovskyi burovuhilnyi basein or Дніпробас; Dniprobas). The largest lignite coal basin in Ukraine, the Dniprobas lies in the central part of the country. It extends from the northwest to the southeast, mostly on the right bank of the Dnipro River and within the boundaries of the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield. The Dniprobas covers an area of almost 150,000 sq km. The coal reserves are connected with the Paleogene and Neogene deposits of the Cenozoic era. Over 120 fields in the Dniprobas have been located. Coal seams lie at depths of 10–170 m in one to three layers, which are 4–5 m and in some places even 25 m thick. The coal has a high ash content (15–45 percent) and a carbon content of 60–70 percent. Its heat value is 1,800–2,000 kcal/kg. On heating, it yields 54–71 percent volatile content, 3–12 percent bitumen, and 10–18 percent tar.

The Dniprobas was first mined in the second half of the 19th century. Today 90 percent of the coal is mined in open pits. Only the fields at Korostyshiv, Yurkivka, Semenivka-Oleksandrivka (Kirovohrad oblast), Bandurivka, Balakhivka, and Mykhailivka, in Kirovohrad oblast and Dnipropetrovsk oblast, are mined. The coal is used exclusively for local needs: 80 percent is used in the form of fuel briquettes in various branches of the economy; 26 percent is used in the form of dust in thermoelectric stations; and 4 percent is used as raw material in the chemical industry. Over 11 million tonnes are mined annually.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Siabrai, V. Dniprovs'kyi burovuhil'nyi basein (Kyiv 1959)
Nesterenko, P.; et al. Zakonomernosti uglenakopleniia na territorii Dneprovskogo burougol'nogo basseina (Moscow 1963)

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]