Cleaning up after mining at the ČSA mine: natural monument, new energy and business area

The end of mining at the ČSA mine marks not only the end of one chapter in North Bohemian mining, but also a fundamental shift in what the post-mining landscape should look like. Rather than blanket technical reclamation, more room is being given to natural succession, raising new questions—from safety and the future use of the site to energy projects and billion-crown financial reserves. We therefore spoke with Luboš Pavlas, CEO of Sev.en, about how this change came about, what it means in practice for ČSA, why it has led to a dispute with the state, and what lessons from the process could shape the future of the Vršany mine and other Czech lignite sites.

If we go back ten or fifteen years, what was the ČSA mine originally meant to look like after mining ended, and what ultimately changed in that plan?

First of all, it must be said that every mine has its remediation and reclamation plan, which defines, in layman’s terms, how it is to be “cleaned up” after mining. Historical remediation and reclamation plans envisaged the creation of a lake at an elevation of 180 m above sea level. The lake would cover around 670 ha and would be unique in terms of its size. The plan also included so-called conventional reclamation, meaning a man-made landscape consisting primarily of forests and fields.