2. A Brief History of Mining in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin

Mining in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) has a thousand years of history. It was initiated in the Middle Ages with the exploitation of iron, silver, and lead ores. Since the Industrial Revolution, coal, zinc and lead ores have been extracted, along with rock materials, mainly limestone, dolomite and stowing sands. Within the USCB, numerous mines operated, including Fryderyk, a large lead and silver mine; Trzebionka, one of the world’s largest mines of zinc and lead ores; and Orzeł Biały, one of the largest mining and metallurgical enterprises in Europe. The total output of ores until 2009 amounted to about 200 million tonnes. In terms of output, coal was the most significant, with nearly 10.7 billion tonnes of it being extracted, including more than 70 % after the Second World War. As a result of the restructuring of the mining industry in the 1990s, unprofitable mines were closed down; currently, in 27 active mines, approximately 75 million tonnes of coal is extracted per year, which makes it the highest in Europe. In the twentieth century, large-scale exploitation of stowing sands began: 1.75 billion tonnes were extracted, of which more than 90 % were from 6 large sandpits. The total output of the of Upper Silesian Coal Basin so far includes more than 13 billion tonnes of various minerals and at least 2.1 billion tonnes of waste rock, which places it among Europe’s largest mining areas.