№ 2 / 2021

Dear Colleagues,

This July we are celebrating the 300th anniversary since the industrial development commenced in Kuzbass, one of the world's largest coal basins. This event is of special significance for many miners: for me personally, Kuzbass has become a real University of life. The editorial in this issue of our Journal is dedicated to this milestone event.

More than 20,000 people attended the Kuzbass Now! Exhibition at the State Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val. In his opening speech during the Exhibition the Governor of Kuzbass Sergey Tsivilev concluded: "The exhibition project in the Tretyakov Gallery is a unique chance to see the continuity and the power of transformation: from the time of Komsomol construction projects to today's changes in the social and economic development of Kuzbass.”

This year the Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) celebrates its 20th anniversary. A considerable number of SUEK's operations are located in Kuzbass, and this fuses together the centuries-old history of this coal region with the history of the modern coal mining company.

Leaders of the Kemerovo Region, whose efforts fostered the development of the coal and other sectors of the national economy, have their names written in the history of Kuzbass. The region's mining groups, integrated plants and associations were headed by outstanding mining experts. Their lives and contribution to the social and economic development of the region will be covered in the next issues of our Journal.

An extended meeting of the Editorial Board of our Journal and representatives of the major mining and engineering companies was held in April of this year. We summed up the results of 2020 and outlined plans and targets for 2021. This is important, as this year was declared the Year of Science and Technology by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation.

Our regular readers know that our Journal has been included in the Scopus International Database. We have been preparing for this for a long time; over a half of the 120 scientific articles published last year were designed in agreement with the international requirements.

The pandemic is still collecting its toll, but we hope that the start of mass vaccination will bring everyday life back to its normal. Industry fairs regain their familiar format. The Mining Industry Day will be held for the first time ever on May 26th, 2021, as part of the Bauma CTT RUSSIA Exhibition. The Academy of Mining Sciences together with our Journal is preparing the Conference agenda for the exhibition, which will be entitled 'The Future of the Mining Industry'. The agenda includes two sessions: "Digital transformation of mining operations" and "Automated and robotic complex mining equipment for mining companies". Presentations are planned to be made by leading scientists and experts from Russian and International mining companies. We invite all industry specialists to join the Conference. Proceedings will be published after the Conference.

This issue is released on the eve of the 76th anniversary of our Victory in the Great Patriotic War. I wish to congratulate all our readers on this great day and wish them good health, wellbeing and creative inspiration!

Yu.N. Malyshev,

Editor-in-Chief of the Russian Mining Industry,

President of the Academy of Mining Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences