Coal producer Urgalugol in Russia's Far East reported a world record for blasthole drilling, a rare bright spot for an industry battered by low global prices, Western sanctions, and soaring logistics costs.

Urgalugol, a unit of Russia's largest coal company SUEK and the only coal miner in Khabarovsk Krai, said its drilling and blasting team drilled 50,948 linear meters in 2026, surpassing its target of 30,000 meters by more than 69%, local media reported.

The company attributed the result to a modern Sunward 250 drilling rig supplied by China's Sunward Intelligent Equipment, operator expertise, and work organization. Sunward included the achievement in its official industry review, noting the equipment's high performance in the complex geological conditions of the Bureya coal basin, Urgalugol said.

The milestone comes as Russia's coal sector faces deepening losses. Industry-wide losses reached 88 billion rubles in the first quarter of 2026 alone, with global prices at low levels and rail tariffs continuing to climb.

Despite the headwinds, Urgalugol reported growth across production indicators. The Severnaya mine produced 2.37 million tonnes from a single longwall, exceeding its plan by 130%. Rail shipments to customers totaled 3.4 million tonnes, while the Chegdomyn processing plant handled over 7 million tonnes since the start of the year, including a monthly record of 1.1 million tonnes in May.

The company is executing an investment program through 2031 with a total budget exceeding 100 billion roubles, of which 60.3 billion had been spent by early 2026. The key project is to double capacity at the Pravoberezhny open-pit mine from 6.5 million tonnes to 13.2 million tonnes per year.

Export infrastructure is also expanding. The Osterra coal terminal at the port of Vanino shipped 3.9 million tonnes of Urgalugol coal between January and July 2026, up 67% year on year. A new rail link completed in 2025 allows trains to bypass intermediate stations, pushing average daily shipments to 285 gondola cars.

Urgalugol's coal supplies power generation in Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais and is exported to China, India, South Korea, and Malaysia.

The company targets 12.6 million tonnes of production in 2026. At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a trilateral agreement was signed between the regional government, SUEK, and Russia's Ministry for the Development of the Far East and Arctic, setting a goal of 18 million tonnes annually by 2030.