Karaganda basin is located on the area of the same name and in the center of this region. Carbon coal-content area occupies the land of about 2000 km2 at the total thickness 4000m. Four synclines are notable in the basin: Tentek, Sherubainur, Karaganda and Verkhnesokursk, first three of them make an industrial part of basin and are studied full enough up to the depths 700- 1300m.

Productive sediments are represented by Ashlyarik , Karaganda, Dolinsk and Tentek series which contain up to 30 coal seams with the total working thickness 40m, coal ash content varies within the limits of 10-35 % with the tendency of reduction upwards the section. The most-widely spread are coals of types from hvBb to mvb. Karaganda basin is considered as a high gas content and gas content seams intensively grow from the beginning of methane zone up to 400-500m reaching 15-20 m3/t, and are more stabilized on the depth within the limits of 22-27 m3/t. Gas weathering zone depth varies within the limits of 60-250 m.

The coal mines of ArcelorMittal Temirtau are located in the Karaganda Coal Basin. The basin is more than 3,000 square kilometers and was formed by strata of Upper Devonian and Carbonic ages, Mesozoic and Cainozoic formations. Due to structural peculiarities, the coal basin is divided into three geology-based mining areas: Karagandinskiy, Sherubay-Nurinskiy and Tentekskiy.

Geological Conditions
The geological structure of the Abaiskaya mine (formerly the Kalinina mine) is represented by sedimentations of carbonic, paleogene, neogene, and quarternary age. The carbonic section is represented by a full section of Karaganda suite divided into three sub-suites: lower (seams K1­-K6), middle (seams K7-K14), and upper (seams K15-K20). Lithological content of the strata is represented by interbedding of sandstones, siltstones, argillites, carbonaceous argillites, and coal seams. Thickness of the suite sedimentations is 750m. The field of the Abaiskaya mine is located in the Southern part of the northeastern flank of Sherubai-Nurinskaya synclinal as a big tectonic block limited by a series of overlap faultings. Slope of the seam mainly varies 10 to 25° to the northwest. The area is complicated with folds and disjunctive imperfections. Results of exploratory works have indicated 91 disjunctive faults and 82 low-swing imperfections with amplitude distortion of 3-5m spreading from 50 to 300m. Zones of the imperfections have intensive cleavage of the strata with trace of drifts along sliding surfaces.

ArcelorMittal Temirtau acquired 15 coal mines in 1996 in the Karaganda Coal Basin region (all deep mines in the region). These mines were restructured into eight captive coal mines: Kostenko, Kuzembaev, Saranskaya, Abaiskaya, Kazakhstanskaya, Lenina, Shaktanskaya, and Tentekskaya. These coal mines are all underground mines that use the retreat longwall mining method.

The Abaiskaya mine is located in the Abai district of Karaganda oblast. The mine was commissioned in 1961 with a designed capacity of 0.9 million tons of coal per year. From 1961 to 2010, the mine produced 48.9 million tons of coal. The maximum amount of production, 1.45 million tons, was reached in 1991. The Coal Division of JSC ArcelorMittal Temirtau acquired the mine on July 1, 1996, and it has been a large, highly mechanized enterprise since then. Coal mining operations are held by complex 2OKP-70K and combine SL-300. Drifting is run by combines KSP-32, GPKS, P110-01M.

Average daily mining rate for the longwall is 2,500. Overall gas extraction for the site is 131.2 m3/min, incl. 17.1 m/min by ventilation and 114.1 m3/min by gas drainage system.

All mines are connected to the main railway, and coal is transported by railway to the coal wash plants and power stations.

The mines produce primarily coking coal used in steel-making at ArcelorMittal Temirtau as well as thermal coal for ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s power plants. For beneficiation of coking coal, two washeries are operated. Surplus coal concentrate is supplied to ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine, and to external customers in Russia and China. In 2020, the Karaganda Coal Mines produced 3.6 million tonnes of metallurgical coal concentrate and approximately 2.4 million tonnes was consumed by the Temirtau steel operations.