History
The ventilation shaft designated Pușul Aeraj E.M. Livezeni — identified in technical documentation as P.A. Est (the eastern ventilation shaft) — is a surface installation forming part of the ventilation infrastructure of Exploatarea Minieră Livezeni, one of the largest underground hard coal mines in Romania. The mine itself was built in 1980 and is situated in Petroșani, in the Jiu Valley (Valea Jiului), Hunedoara County, in the heart of Romania's most significant hard coal basin.
The Jiu Valley coalfield has been mined since the nineteenth century, but E.M. Livezeni was developed in the second half of the twentieth century as part of large-scale socialist industrialisation of the valley's coal resources. The mine occupies the eastern section of the basin and by the time of detailed technical studies had an annual production capacity of approximately 170,000 tonnes of hard coal. Production is carried out at two seams — stratul 3 and stratul 13 — at different underground horizons.
Ventilation is a critical safety function in the Livezeni workings. The mine generates significant methane emissions, with an absolute rate of 15.7 m³ CH4 per minute and a relative rate of 14.0 m³ CH4 per tonne recorded in recent academic studies. The ventilation network has been modelled and optimised using specialist software including Ventsim. The principal surface ventilation installations include the eastern ventilation shaft P.A. Est and a second installation designated PA2 (P.A. 2); the eastern unit delivers approximately 10.28 m³/s (616.8 m³/min) of air at its fan, and PA2 delivers approximately 6.72 m³/s (403.2 m³/min). The total airflow achieved under the main ventilation installations was approximately 53.89 m³/s (3,233.4 m³/min). The risk of methane accumulation has been a recurring operational concern throughout the mine's history; on 29 November 1980, two successive underground explosions caused by methane ignition killed 53 miners and seriously injured 77 others in what remains the most severe mining accident in the Jiu Valley in the modern era.
The mine was administered from 1991 under autonomous coal authority structures following the end of state socialist management, and from 20 November 1998 under the Compania Națională a Huilei (National Hard Coal Company), which was established by the Romanian Government to administer Jiu Valley mines following separation from the Banat coal operations. In later years Livezeni was grouped with the Vulcan, Lonea, and Lupeni mines within Complexul Energetic Hunedoara S.A. (CEH). CEH entered insolvency in November 2019 and was declared bankrupt on 31 March 2025, with total debts of approximately 2.4 billion lei. Under Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan and EU State aid approval of €790 million granted in November 2024, the Livezeni and Vulcan mines are scheduled for safe closure by 31 December 2032, with final land remediation to follow.