Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan

Local time in Ekibastuz city is December 9, 11:58 pm (+6 UTC).

Ekibastuz history

Ekibastuz history began in the 19th century. Kosim Pshembaev - a native Kazakh commissioned by Russians to look for minerals in Pavlodar region - found a coal field north-west of Pavlodar city. To mark the place he placed two big lumps of salt. And it gave the place its current name because “Ekibastuz” means “two lumps of salt” in Kazakh language. Soon the railroad was constructed and Ekibastuz settlement was founded in 1899.

The revolutions of 1917 in Russia and two World Wars distracted the attention from the exploitation of Ekibastuz coal field. Ekibastuz village was almost deserted. But in 1948 the first team of about 50 people started construction of the future Ekibastuz town.

December 1954 is an important date of Ekibastuz history. It was the date when the first train loads of coal were loaded. It was the beginning of Ekibastuz industrial development. In 1955 the millionth ton of the coal was produced here. The city status was given to Ekibastuz on 12 July 1957.

Ekibastuz streets

Ekibastuz city street view

Ekibastuz city, Kazakhstan street

Ekibastus city street

Ekibastuz features

Ekibastuz area is one of the biggest open-cast coal field in the world and one of the most perspective. Ekibastuz coal field contains more than 13 billion tons of coal in the area of 62 square kilometers (about 200 million tons of coal per sq. km.).

The climate is of sharp continental type. The territory of Ekibastuz is located very far from the ocean and is open for winds from west and north, this fact lets various air masses reach the area and thus the weather is considerably contrasting. Frosty, moderately severe winters and warm summers are typical for the region.

Ekibastuz sceneries

Ekibastuz city scenery

Ekibastuz city, Kazakhstan scenery

Ekibastus city scenery

Ekibastuz attractions

Among the main places of interest of Ekibastuz are:

Open-cast coal mine “Bogatyr”. A mine of such a capacity was constructed for the first time in the world. Due to this fact “Bogatyr” was included into the Guinness Book of Records in 1980 (over 1 billion tons of coal was mined within the whole period of exploitation). 50 million tons is mined a year. The miners of this open-cast had the honored right to dispatch the billionth ton of coal mined at Ekibastuz deposit in 2000.

Power station #2. The unique pipe of the station, 420 m high, was included into the Guinness Book of Records. The station produces electric power out of Ekibastuz coal with 2 energy blocks 500 Mwtt each, it possesses the set up capacity 1000 Mwtt. The energy produced by the station is aimed at providing the north of Kazakhstan and it covers 15% of energy consumed by the republic.