The license in Dębieńsk from the failing NWR concern, whose face was the billionaire Zdenek Bakal, for 2 million zlotys was bought by the Australian company Prairie Mining. Earlier in Poland he had a project to build the mine Jan Karski near Bogdanka in the Lublin region.
The concession was bought at a time by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa - it did not even submit an offer. A few years ago, the crowning argument for JSW's release of 1.5 billion zlotys to the Knurów-Szczygłowice mine was the opportunity to reach for valuable deposits from Dębieńska. as DGP established, the idea that JSW would fight for the raw material from Dębieńska returned.
How is it possible? The license for Dębieńsko is valid until 2058. When NWR got it 10 years ago, a condition was imposed - the beginning of the extraction was to start at the beginning of 2018. This did not happen. This opens the way for the state concern.
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It would reach for coal from the side of Knurów-Szczygłowice, simultaneously building a new mine shaft on a further deposit. - The concession still belongs to another economic entity, so we will not comment - says Katarzyna Jabłońska-Bajer, a spokeswoman for JSW.
The strategy of the Jastrzębska company for 2018-2030 includes a record of an increase in production from 14.7 million tonnes in 2017 to 18.2 million tonnes in 2030. And the share in the production of coking coal is to increase from 72 to 85 percent. Without new mine can be difficult.
In turn, the record of the construction of a new or reactivated shutdown (or even two) was included in the government program for Silesia.
Australians, however, do not let go. Although they officially talk about amicable solutions, as we have already written in DGP, if they lose their concession, they do not exclude the fight for compensation calculated in billions of zlotys in international arbitration.
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- This year we intend to start drilling and prepare a preliminary feasibility study (PFS) .We expect that in the long term the Ministry of the Environment will update the concession records in the near future and according to the law - said DGP Ben Stoikovich, chairman of Prairie Mining. - Our goal is to build in Poland of modern and efficient mines, we do not want to participate in court skirmishes. Poland urgently needs new mines to become independent from imports. We are open to cooperation - he adds.
According to our interviewees in Silesia, the Ministry of the Environment was to propose to extend the start of extraction to Australians by a year and a half (which would not have made it possible to reactivate the mine), but it was blocked by the Ministry of Energy.
- In this situation, the proposed extension by the Minister of Environment of the commencement date of the mining concession has not been agreed with the Minister of Energy - DGP admits Professor Orion Jędrysek, the country's chief geologist and deputy minister of environment - I will talk with energy minister Krzysztof Tchórzewski and his deputy Grzegorz Tobiszowski. We have always found the best compromise, but before it does, I can not say more - it ends.
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