Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Coal Country Notes

The Polish WEC Member Committee has been able to provide revised coal resource assessments, of improved relevance. The proved amounts in place and the corresponding tonnages recoverable now refer solely to those in 'developed deposits', rather than being based on ultimately recoverable amounts.

The latest figures show the proved amount of hard coal in place in 'developed deposits' as 15.3 billion tonnes, on the basis of a maximum deposit depth of
1 000 m and a minimum seam thickness of 1 m; the corresponding level for lignite is about 1.9 billion tonnes, at a maximum deposit depth of 350 m and minimum seam thickness of 3 m. Proved recoverable reserves in such developed deposits consist of 6 billion tonnes of hard coal and 1.5 billion tonnes of lignite.

The estimated additional amounts in place have been derived from Poland's total geological resources of coal (called in Polish terminology 'documented geological resources - category A, B and C'), by deducting the in-place and recoverable amounts in developed deposits specified in the previous paragraph, and adding on forecast additional resources of coal, which are in unexplored extensions of known deposits below 1 000 m and inferred amounts estimated on the results of geological information. The resulting additional tonnages are around 27 billion tonnes of hard coal and 12 billion tonnes of lignite.

Poland's hard coal resources are mainly in the Upper Silesian Basin, which lies in the southwest of the country, straddling the border with the Czech Republic: about 80% of the basin is in Polish territory. Other hard-coal fields are located in the Lower Silesia and Lublin basins. There are a number of lignite deposits in central and western Poland, with four of the larger basins currently being exploited for production.

The quality of the Upper Silesian hard coals is generally quite high, with relatively low levels of sulphur and ash content. One-third of Poland's proved reserves of hard coal are regarded as of coking quality.

Although output of hard coal has declined during the past 17 years, and especially since 1997, Poland is still one of the world's major coal producers (see Table 1-3), with a 2005 output of 98 million tonnes of hard coal and 62 million tonnes of lignite. The decline in hard coal production reflects a deep restructuring of the industry, with the aim of eliminating the non-profitable mines by a reduction in excess production potential, substantially lower employment levels, elimination of government subsidies, etc.

Apart from Russia, Poland is the only world-class coal exporter in Europe: its total exports in 2005 were nearly 21 million tonnes, of which steam coal accounted for 84% and coking for 16%. Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and France are currently Poland's largest export markets for coal.
About 64% of inland consumption of hard coal goes to the production of electricity and bulk heat, industrial uses account for 24% and residential/commercial/agricultural uses 12%. Almost all lignite production is used for base-load electricity generation.