Novoshakhtinsk, city, Rostov oblast (region), southwestern Russia, on the Maly Nesvetay River. It developed as a major anthracite coal-mining centre, achieving city status in 1939. The city’s dependence on the coal industry, which suffered as oil and natural gas increased in importance as fuels in the 1960s, led to a decline in its population in the later 20th century, after it had doubled in size between 1939 and 1959. Pop. (2006 est.) 115,266.