[Mr. K]

what the heck is that mound??? that certainly doesn't look natural. Has anyone ever excavated around the area??

[struwwelpeter]

That's a 'terrakonik', also called a 'terrakon'. It's the junk that the coal mines dreg up. That particular one is from the 'Komsomolskaya' shaft which goes down 1800 meters.

An Indian company (Mittal?) recently has been reworking the tailings.

Friends over there said that they used to ski on them in wintertime, but the rest of the year they are dangerous.