ČSM Mine coal preparation plant in Stonava, the last in Czechia, ceases operations

The coal preparation plant at the ČSM Mine in Stonava, in the Karviná region, the last hard coal preparation plant in Czechia, has ceased operations. At the end of the month, 150 of its nearly 190 employees, who are now cleaning the plant's process units, will leave. Zdeněk Piech, head of the preparation plant at OKD, told journalists.

Hard coal mining in the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield and in the whole of the Czech Republic ended after almost 250 years on 4 February, when the final symbolic mine cart was brought out of the ČSM Mine. The preparation plant then continued processing coal mined at the site by the end of January. Its dispatch and heating-blend production sections remain in operation, but the screening and washing plants, the core of the preparation plant, have ceased operations.

"Unfortunately, the preparation plant has ended. We were still processing the remaining mined coal that we had in the stockpile and bunkers. We are now carrying out final cleaning of all process units and, of course, disposing of all the liquids we needed, such as flotation oils, magnetite suspension and other components that we use to obtain the highest-quality coal," Piech said.

All extracted coal material in its raw state, including waste rock, was processed and prepared at the plant so that its grain size and quality met customer requirements. The ČSM Mine preparation plant had been in operation since 1968.

"On two identical lines with a capacity of 800 tonnes per hour, the ČSM Mine preparation plant separates coal into two products: washed coal and waste rock. After crushing and sorting into fractions of 15 - 100 millimetres and 0 - 15 millimetres, the products proceed to the coarse and fine preparation plants, where the raw coal is processed in magnetite suspension," the plant manager described the process.

According to him, the ČSM preparation plant focused on achieving high-quality output, particularly coal suitable for coking. "A significant step in this regard was the commissioning of hyperbaric filters, which from September 1993 substantially increased the efficiency of coal slurry dewatering," Piech said. Another major technological advance came in 2010, when the original jigs were replaced with highly efficient dense-medium hydrocyclones.

The plant manager said its closure was sad for him. "I have worked at quite a few preparation plants in the Karviná area. I started as a mine supervisor at the ČSA Mine. Then I worked across the coalfield in the quality-control department. I worked at the ČSA, Darkov, Lazy and Paskov mines, and ended up at ČSM. Originally, I was responsible for some 780 people across all the preparation plants," Piech said.

Jaromír Lapiš, who works at the preparation plant, said OKD is close to his heart. "I joined the Doubrava Mine in 1985, and in 2003 I began dismantling it and completed its liquidation. Then I moved to Armáda, which has also been demolished. Within the preparation plant division, we had four preparation plants - Lazy, ČSM, Darkov and Paskov. The last one remaining was ČSM, which has unfortunately now also closed, and that means we have ended hard coal preparation in Czechia," Lapiš said.

He will continue working at the ČSM Mine as a fire safety technician. "In any case, this does not make me feel good. So I did not even see the final mine cart in person, only on television. And even then, it brought a tear to my eye," Lapiš said.

The remaining preparation plant workers will focus on wind-down activities and work on the Stonávka sorting line, where OKD produces energy-grade coal products. The line will process both its own and imported coal. It will also be responsible for extracting and processing coal slurries for sale and further use as part of OKD's other business activities.

"We currently have 890 employees. That is the figure after the redundancies that took place as of 31 January; that was the largest wave. Now 150 preparation plant employees will leave at the end of February. Then, each month, as specific activities are completed, people will gradually leave; by the end of the year, we should have around 400 employees," OKD spokesperson Barbora Černá Dvořáková said.

OKD, which is state-owned through Prisko, is the only producer of hard coal in Czechia. It is now changing its business model; for example, it will capture and use mine gas and is beginning operations in heating-blend production. The technical closure of the ČSM Mine will take around three years and, according to the plan, should be completed at the turn of 2028 and 2029.