Poland's JSW met coal mine fire halts operations

: Coking coal, Metals
25/01/22

A fire caused by methane gas ignition at Polish firm JSW's Szczyglowice coking coal mine today has halted longwall operations and left 16 miners injured.

The fire occurred at a depth of 805m, JSW said. An investigation team has been set up to assess the accident and determine the future of the affected area, the firm added.

Szczyglowice mine has an estimated 185.1mn t of coal reserves and is part of the Knurow-Szczyglowice mining complex, located south of Gliwice city. The mine produces both met coal and thermal coal. Last year approximately two-thirds of its output was met coal and the remainder thermal coal although JSW has been attempting to increase the share of met coal production.

Fires and accidents are frequent at JSW mines, having operated at depths reaching 1,300m. Last year the company declared force majeure on coking coal production and slashed planned output by 850,000t after accidents at the Budryk and Pniowek mines in April 2024 and December 2023, respectively

The Szczyglowice mine fire may complicate JSW's ambitions to restore its met coal production to 14.5mn t/yr by 2026 from 9.9mn t last year.

Stocks of undelivered met coal at Polish coal mines have recovered from a 2024 low of less than 200,000t in August to 364,000t at the end of November last year, similar level as in November 2023, according to the most recent data from the Polish government's ARP mining research firm.

By Tomasz Stepien

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