Massive sinkhole widens even further in Solikamsk, Russia

© Getty

Solikamsk sinkhole

Flooding at a PAO Uralkali potash mine in Russia's Perm region has increased four-fold in the last two weeks, and a nearby sinkhole is almost 300 feet across.

The average brine inflow to the Solikamsk-2 mine increased from 200 cubic meters an hour to about 820 cubic meters an hour between Jan. 22 and Feb. 6, the world's largest potash miner said today in a statement. A sinkhole that opened up east of the mine, swallowing local summer homes, has widened to 87 meters (285 feet) by 58 meters and is about 75 meters deep, it said.

Uralkali is monitoring the mine about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) east of Moscow after salty water, which dissolves potash, began pouring into the site on Nov. 18. The company has said there's a high risk the mine will be completely flooded, forcing it to abandon a site that accounts for about 18 percent of its capacity.

"The announcement just confirms what was known anyway -- the mine is rather dead than alive and is likely to be fully flooded, with inflows seen intensifying in spring," said Raiffeisenbank analyst Konstantin Yuminov. Uralkali assumed the mine was lost when it forecast 2015 output of 10.5 million metric tons, announced in December, he said.

Uralkali is salvaging equipment from the mine shaft that isn't needed to deal with the flooding, it said. Three "Ural" continuous miners have already been dismantled and taken out.

Uralkali also said today that it is pumping brine from the inflow area in the eastern area of the mine field to the western part to prevent flooding in the area adjacent to the shaft. Construction of a brine diversion channel has been completed.

Uralkali is continuing work to strengthen barrier walls between the Solikamsk-1 and Solikamsk-2 mines and is backfilling the worked-out areas of the mine.

Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://bit.ly/1xcsdoI.