Mining

OSCE chairman offers condolences over miners' deaths

BELGRADE -- Ivica Dacic expressed deepest condolences on Thursday over the tragic loss of human lives in the accident that occurred in the Zasyadko Mine in eastern Ukraine.

Dacic is OSCE's chairman-in-office and Serbian foreign minister.

VIENNA - OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic expressed deepest condolences on Thursday over the tragic loss of human lives in the accident that occurred in the Zasyadko Mine in eastern Ukraine.

The estimates of the casualties in a Donetsk mine after the explosion which took place earlier today, are all over the place.

The Miners Association announced that 47 people are missing, while it is considering the possibility that the number of casualties will rise to 77, however, it cannot clarify the number of miners trapped inside the mine at the time of the explosion.

At least 30 people have been left dead by a blast in the Zasyadko coal mine in Ukraine's east, in an area controlled by rebels, according to media reports.

More than 40 are thought to be trapped underground, Lentra.ru quotes a Donetsk People's Republic official as saying.

At least 32 miners were killed in a blast at a coal mine in a rebel-held area of east Ukraine on March 4, the president of Ukraine's parliament said.
      
"A terrible tragedy took place this morning at Zasyadko (mine). There are victims, currently numbering 32," Volodymyr Groysman told parliament in Kiev, calling on lawmakers to observe a minute of silence.
      

By Simon Casey & Christopher Donville

Eldorado Gold Corp., battling to develop a mine in Greece in the face of government opposition, said it was blocked from completing construction of a processing plant at the site.

An official expert report on the deadly mine accident in the Ermenek town in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman has proven that the disaster was not natural, but caused by technical neglect, while also citing that miners were poorly trained.

The global demand for gold dropped to its lowest level in five years last year, the World Gold Council stated in a report released on Feb. 12.

Consumer demand for gold fell by 4 percent from 2013, as slow economic growth in Asia dampened sales of jewelry.

European stocks were little changed before a meeting between Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and his euro-area counterparts in Brussels.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.1 percent to 372.56 at 8:07 a.m. in London. Stocks climbed Tuesday amid investor optimism that Greece can reach an agreement on new bailout terms with its euro-region creditors.

Nearly 500 coal miners in Ukraine's war-torn east were briefly trapped underground on Monday after their pit lost power when a shell hit an electricity substation.
      
The incident occurred in rebel-controlled Donetsk city's Zasyadko coal mine -- one of eastern Europe's largest and scene of a similar incident on January 11.