OREANDA-NEWS. May 18, 2012. The Council for implementing the republican special-purpose program "Development of Innovative, Scientific and Implementation Activities in the Republic of Khakassia" approved the list of winners in the republican grant contest 'Leader'. Alexey Keelin, Cand. Eng. Sc., the executive director of LLC SUEK-Khakassia, became one of the two winners with the project titled: "Development of effective and economically feasible technology of reclaiming the lands damaged by coal mining." According to expert opinion, the project should be supported and noted for its high significance for the economy of the Republic of Khakassia.

The republican contest 'Leader' is held for executives highly successful in research, development of new technologies and introducing those technologies in production. Alexey Keelin received the grant for introducing a new technology of reclaiming the anthropogenically damaged lands at all works operated by SUEK in Khakassia. This is a graphic example of a mutually beneficial cooperation between manufacturers and scientists, with the latter represented by specialists from Khakassia Agrarian Issues Research Institute (AIRI).

"SUEK-Khakassia and AIRI do not stop their cooperation here," emphasized Alexey Keelin. "They started a new program focused on improving the efficiency of sanitary buffer zones near mining works. Under current regulations these buffer zones should be at least one kilometer wide. However, the scientists think it possible to reduce the area of these protective buffer zones, since the new reclaiming technology that has been in use at the Chernogorsk open-pit mine for the past several years is not only more cost effective than the conventional one but is also friendlier to the environment. Furthermore, the preliminary research done by the AIRI scientists at the Chernogorsk open-pit mine revealed a good potential of these projects."

The republican grant contest 'Leader' is held as part of the republican special-purpose program "Development of Innovative, Scientific and Implementation Activities in the Republic of Khakassia (2011-2015)." It has been organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Khakassia. Its main goal is increasing the number of enterprises involved in introducing the research outcomes and innovations into production process. The financial support offered through the grant enables the contest winners to keep up the effective cooperation with research institutes.