ENERGETICKÝ A PRŮMYSLOVÝ HOLDING TAKES OVER THE SILESIA MINE IN POLAND
9. 12. 2010
Kompania Węglowa and PG SILESIA signed a contract today for the transfer of the KWK Silesia hard coal mine to PG SILESIA. This marked the closing of the entire sale transaction, and PG SILESIA has taken over all operations of the KWK Silesia mine in full. PG SILESIA is part of the ENERGETICKÝ A PRŮMYSLOVÝ HOLDING Group.
As part of the contract for the takeover of the mine, the mining concession for KWK SILESIA was also transferred to PG SILESIA. The transaction was successfully completed following almost six months from the signing of the agreement on the sale of the mine. PG SILESIA submitted its tender to buy the KWK Silesia mine in October 2009.
The KWK Silesia mine is situated some 30 km from Poland’s national border with the Czech Republic and its geological reserves exceed 500 million tonnes of low-sulphur hard coal.
PG SILESIA has also entered into a social agreement with all five trade union organisations. This social agreement guarantees to each of a total of 738 employees of the KWK Silesia mine that their employment contract will continue and their current level of wages will be preserved, among others.
„The successful completion of the sale transactions, the first of its kind in Poland, brings long-term prospects for the Silesia mine,“ said Tomáš David, Energy Sector Development Director at EP Holding and PG SILESIA’s Chief Executive Officer. „Our objective is to transform the mine into a profitable company with modern technologies, which will provide a future and jobs for all employees. I am confident that in the Polish extraction sector, we can become one of the leaders in terms of the efficiency and safety of the operation of a mining company,“ noted Mr David.
„A highly complex project that has shown how complicated it is to sell a hard coal mine has been finalised. First and foremost I would like to wish a bit of ´miners´ luck to the new owners and job satisfaction in a new company to the employees. We will be watching with interest and curiosity what solutions PG SILESIA will implement. The negotiations have shown that we are dealing with professional and highly creative partners,“ said Jacek Korski, a member of the Board of Directors of Kompania Węglowa.
As a leading strategic investor in the energy sector, ENERGETICKÝ A PRŮMYSLOVÝ HOLDING regards Poland as a very attractive market with a long-term development potential. „Over the next three years we plan to invest a total of EUR 100 to 150 million in KWK Silesia, in the modernisation of the mine with a view to achieving production at a level of approximately 3 million tonnes a year. At the same time, this will help to create a significant number of new jobs,“ specified Mr David. It is expected that the KWK Silesia mine will achieve the full level of production in 2012.
PG SILESIA is an extraction company operating in southern Poland. It focuses on producing high-quality hard coal intended primarily for the energy sector, and also on coal production for retail customers. In addition to coal mining, PG SILESIA also concentrates on, among other things, providing solutions for environmentally-friendly deposition of energy minerals. PG SILESIA is part of the ENERGETICKÝ A PRŮMYSLOVÝ HOLDING Group.
ENERGETICKÝ A PRŮMYSLOVÝ HOLDING is a long-term strategic investor in the energy sector. It includes more than 20 companies operating in coal extraction, electricity and heat production, electricity trading and supply, and energy distribution to final customers. In a consortium (50/50) with the ČEZ Group, EP Holding controls MIBRAG, a German coal mining company with an annual production of 20 million tonnes of brown coal.
Kompania Węglowa is the largest company in the European Union in terms of steam coal production. It operates 15 mines and employs more than 61,000 people. Its production totals 42 million tonnes of hard coal annually.