OREANDA-NEWS. On 17 April 2008 was announced, that Bogatyr Access Comir Ltd., Kazakhstan's biggest coal producer, posted a 37 percent jump in first-quarter sales of the fuel, buoyed by bigger shipments to neighboring Russia.

The company, a venture between United Co. Rusal and Kazakhstan's Samruk Holding, sold a record 13 million metric tons of coal in the period, Ekibastuz-based Bogatyr said in an e- mailed statement today.

Bogatyr reported a 7 percent drop in sales last year because of a shortage of railway wagons to take the fuel to Russia.