The paper offers an analysis of the problems and prospects of the most difficult branch of the Russian economy, i.e. coal industry. An attempt is made to find directions for diversifying the economy of a coal region. The authors suggested turning to the theory of value chains. The coal industry is the beginning of a chain of added value formation. The study confirmed the possibility of cooperation with the engineering industry for building new technological chains. The analysis also made it possible to put forward a hypothesis that localization on the territory of processing industries, based on related technologies within the framework of modern elongated and ramified supply chains and value chains, can become an instrument for overcoming "enclave" and reducing resource dependence of regions. Based on the analysis of patent sources, the authors defined the main directions of development of the coal industry that are currently in the focus of attention of the leading coal-mining countries and companies. On the basis of scientific research and design, the authors use the example of the Kemerovo region to determine the degree of technological development of the supported patents and the level of companies' readiness for joint projects with the machine-building industry.