Serbian state-owned power utility EPS has announced a record-breaking milestone in coal production at the Drmno open-pit mine near Kostolac. Since the beginning of the year, cumulative output at the site reached 10 million tons, marking the highest annual production in the mine’s history. The previous record stood at just under 9.908 million tons.
Strong production momentum was also seen in Serbia’s Kolubara lignite basin. Just one day before the Drmno milestone, miners at the Tamnava–West Field completed their full-year production target, having extracted 11.5 million tons of coal by 24 December. This accounted for roughly half of both the planned and actual annual output of the Kolubara mining system.
EPS highlighted that the achievement at Tamnava was particularly notable due to operational challenges faced during the year. One of the large bucket-wheel excavators was out of service for six months for repairs, making the completion of the annual production plan under these circumstances a significant operational success.