Berbești Coal Mine is an

open-pit mining Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

exploitation, one of the largest in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

located in

Berbești Berbești is a town located in Vâlcea County, Romania, about 78 km south-west from Râmnicu Vâlcea, in the historical region of Oltenia. It was granted town status by law in October 2003. As of January 2009, it has a population of 5,635. ...

Vâlcea County Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county ( județ) of Romania. Located in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt River), it is also part of the wider Wallachia region. Its capital city is Râm ...

. The legal entity managing the Berbești mine is the

National Company of Lignite Oltenia National Company of Lignite Oltenia ( ro, Societatea Naţională a Lignitului Oltenia - SNLO) Târgu Jiu was set up as a commercial society by the Government of Romania in 1997. The main headquarters of the company is placed in Târgu Jiu, Gorj C ...

which was set up in 1997. The exploitation has four open pits Seciuri, Olteț, Berbești-Vest, Panga that produced 2.5 million tonnes of

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

in 2008. The mine has around 1,800 workers and is endowed with 13

bucket-wheel excavator A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining. The primary function of BWEs is ...

s, seven spreaders, one mixed machine and five deposits spreader. The total proven recoverable reserves of the mine amount to 67 million tonnes of lignite.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berbesti Coal Mine Coal mines in Romania Open-pit mines