In April 2008 Korchakol became the first steam coal mine to be purchased by a foreign company in Russian territory. The purchaser was Coeclerici Coal and Fuels. The mine is located in the Kemerovo region in Siberia, near the city of Novokuznetsk, and is part of the rich Kuzbass coal territory, a land crisscrossed by the Tom River. The site is an open-air mine with two production lines that currently produce around 500,000 tons of coal per year, although that number is scheduled to double. The reserves total at least 20 million tons, and the mine employs more than 500 people. Korchakol is also equipped with its own transport system to the railway loading site, from which the fossil fuel takes a roughly 4,000-kilometer voyage to reach Murmansk port, on the Barents Sea. A strong north Atlantic current keeps this arctic port free of ice, making it possible to load the large, 150,000-ton gross tonnage coal vessels year-round. Current figures total more than 3 million tons of coal loaded per year.