Nikolai Lakhin
Mechanic in Charge of Mining Equipment Repairs and Turner, Stoilensky
Nikolai Lakhin has been working at Stoilensky for more than 30 years.
He has spent this time working together with his colleagues to deal with urgent repair issues.
“The lion’s share of repairs are done at the equipment repair station,” Nikolai Lakhin said, “but if there’s an emergency and it would be unacceptable to shutdown then we go to the site to handle the situation. Yes, we repair excavators right in the mine! If a mechanical part is damaged and repairs cannot be made on-site, then a lathe comes into play. We take the unit to the shop to turn the damaged part on a lathe and then perform the assembly work. Then we bring the unit back into place and that’s it!”
Turning is very much like jewelry making. Nikolai Lakhin said he had worked with a lathe for ten years before he felt he really knew how to turn. “I ruined so many tool bits in the process!” he said with a smile.