OKD gets Czech ministry approval to mine from this year until operations end

Mining company OKD has received a favourable opinion from the Ministry of the Environment (MŽP) in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process for mining from this year until operations end. The activity under assessment includes coal extraction and the technical closure of the ČSM Mine, which will follow the end of mining. OKD spokesperson Barbora Černá Dvořáková told ČTK today. The company expects to mine an average of 1.1 million tonnes of coal a year. OKD plans to end mining at the turn of 2025 and 2026.

„The opinion issued by the ministry imposes a number of obligations on OKD, which we will have to fulfil during mining, the subsequent technical closure of the ČSM Mine, and after mining ends. The conditions in the opinion will now be reflected in subsequent proceedings,“ said OKD CEO Roman Sikora.

The conditions set out in the opinion include a cap on annual hard coal production of 1.8 million tonnes. OKD must also, for example, carry out reclamation in a way that is close to nature.

The opinion was preceded, among other things, by Czech-Polish intergovernmental consultations last year, which aimed to address questions raised by the Polish side about the documentation. „We clarified all the points that Polish representatives considered contentious, and both sides signed a protocol last December. This was a prerequisite for the Ministry of the Environment to issue the favourable opinion, which we have now received. We will mine only in areas where extraction has taken place historically, and the effects of subsidence will not affect inhabited areas of Stonava and Karviná or the Polish side. Average annual production is expected to be 1.1 million tonnes of coal,“ said OKD Operations Director David Hájek.

OKD is the only hard coal producer in Czechia. In recent years, however, the company has ceased mining at most of its mines because operations had been unprofitable for a long time. Mining now continues only at the ČSM Mine. OKD employs approximately 3,300 people. The company is owned by the state through Prisko.