The Blagoveshchensk City Court of the Amur Region sent Alexey Biryukov, the managing director of the Pioneer mine, to a pre-trial detention center, where 13 people were trapped in the mine due to a collapse. This was reported by the press service of the court and the regional Investigative Committee.
The director is accused of violating safety requirements during work (Part 3 of Article 216 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, Biryukov, heading a dangerous production facility, knew that work in the mine was being carried out next to a quarry filled with water — this is considered a violation of safety rules. Despite this, the accused did not organize the drainage of the reservoir, which subsequently led to water breaking into the mine and the collapse of rocks.
“Having studied the case materials and heard the parties, the court came to the conclusion that while at large, the accused can hide from the investigative authorities and the court, destroy evidence, influence witnesses,” says the court’s press release.
The collapse at the Pioneer mine occurred on March 18, trapping 13 miners working underground under the rubble. Nothing is still known about their fate; there is no contact with them. On March 19, a state of emergency was introduced in the Amur region due to the incident.
Later, during rescue operations, Emergency Situations Ministry employees discovered that there was water in at least three wells in the mine. On March 25, an inspection of the mine showed that it was highly likely to be flooded.
In addition to the case of violation of safety requirements, in connection with the mine collapse, the department of the Investigative Committee for the Amur Region opened a criminal case for negligence (Article 293 of the Criminal Code) against employees of Rostechnadzor . According to investigators, during scheduled inspections in 2022 and 2023 they did not find any violations in the operation of the Pioneer mine, which is why they were unable to stop them or suspend work. At the same time, at least in 2023, information was published on the Rostechnadzor website that “violations of mandatory requirements” were identified in the work of Pioneer.
The Pioneer Mining and Hydrometallurgical Combine is one of the largest gold mining enterprises in Russia enterprises located in the Zeya district of the Amur region. The owner of Pioneer is the Petropavlovsk group of companies.