PhD Łukasz Gawor

Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice

Akademicka Street 2, 44-100 Gliwice, PL,

phone +48 694 202 157, fax +48 32 237 22 90

In Polish coal industry the post-mining waste dumps are

stored at the area of over 4000 ha in more than 250

objects. The Central Statistic Office of Poland reports that

on the coal mining waste dumps there are disposed 762,8

millions Mg of wastes from hard coal mining, what

represents 51% of all stored industrial wastes in Poland.

According to various sources, it is estimated that for each

1 Mg of coal produced, there is 0,4 – 0,5 Mg of waste

material. This material has to be deposited in the coal

mining dumps.

Introduction

The production of hard coal in Poland in

2012 counted 79,2 million Mg. This

allows to estimate that approximately

31,68 – 39,6 million Mg of waste

material was produced in the year as well.

In the past, due to the poor coal

preparation technology the majority of

this waste material was stored in coal

mining waste dumps

Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB)

USCB is situated in south-western part of Poland and covers in Polish

part ca. 6100 km².

Balance of coal production and coal mining wastes

1 Mg of coal ca. 0,4 Mg of coal wastes

Production of coal

and coal wastes

Waste management

Characteristics of mining wastes

Waste rock [%]

Siltstones 40 – 98

Mudstones 2 – 40

Coal shales 2 – 25

Sandstones 0 – 33

Coal 3 – 10

Petrographic composition of coal wastes in

Upper Silesia

Coal mining waste dumps in USCB

According to the literature study in the Upper Silesian

Coal Basin there are ca. 220 coal-mining waste dumps,

covering over 4000 ha. The highest concentration of the

dumps occurs in the central part of USCB e.g. in Zabrze

(34 dumps), Jaworzno (26) Bytom (21 dumps), Ruda

Śląska (12 dumps) and as well as in the south-western

part of USCB e.g. Rybnik (13 dumps) and Jastrzebie-

Zdroj and surroundings (9 dumps). The largest dumps

cover the area of over 250 ha (e.g. Central Coal Mining

Dumps in Knurów).

Coal mining waste dumps in USCB

Upper Silesian Coal Basin

Over 220 coal mining waste dumps

(self study).

There is stored over 700 mln Mg

of waste material

Surface: over 4000 ha.

Polish Geological Institute, 2001, changed

Map of coal mining waste dumps in Polish and Czech part

of USCB – over 250 objects (after Probierz, Marcisz,

Sobolewski, 2013)

0 10 20 30 40 50km

PL

SK

Bohumi n

Ostrava

Tŕinec

Rožnov p. R.

Příbor

Frenśtát p. R.

Frýdek-Mi stek

Karviná

Cieszyn

Skoczów

Bielsko-Biała

Czechowice-Dziedzice

Pszczyna

Jastrzębie Zdrój

Wodzisław Śląski

Pszów

Rybnik

Żory

Tychy

Knurów

Gliwice ZabrzeChorzów

Bytom

Sosnowiec

KatowiceMysłowice

Toszek

Łaziska Górne

Dąbrowa Górnicza

Tarnowskie Góry

Siewierz

Olkusz

Jaworzno

Trzebinia

KrzeszowiceChrzanów

Libiąż

Oświęcim

Zator

Kraków

Myślenice

Wadowice

Andrychów

N

CZ

Novy Jičin

Mikołów

4

35

1

2

HeřmaniceEma

LihovarskáHrabůvka

Přívozská

na Ostravici

Šverma

Zabrze 34

Jaworzno 26

Bytom 21

wodzisławski 19

Katowice 14

Rybnik 13

Ruda Śląska 12

będziński 11

Chorzów 7

Piekary 7

Sosnowiec 7

oświęcimski 6

gliwicki 5

Jastrzębie 4

Mysłowice 4

bielski 3

mikołowski 3

pszczyński 3

bieruńsko-lędziński 3

Gliwice 3

Siemianowice 3

Świętochłowice 3

Dąbrowa Górnicza 2

chrzanowski 2

cieszyński 1

rybnicki 1

tarnogórski 1

Tychy 1

Districts:

Źródło: Opracowanie własne.

Coal mining waste dumps according to districts

10km 0

Coal mining waste dumps in LSCB

According to the literature study in the Lower Silesian

Coal Basin there are 39 coal-mining waste dumps.

The majority of the dumps (23) has volume of dozen –

several thousands of m3.

Total surface of coal mining waste dumps covers ca.

305 ha, the volume reaches 65 millions m3. The height

of waste dumps changes in the range of 3 do 105 m.

The largest waste dump in Wałbrzych area reaches 50

ha.

Coal mining waste dumps in LSCB

Coal mining waste dumps in Wałbrzych region. Legend: 1 – buildings, 2 – railway, 3-

tunnels, 4 – roads, 5 – waste dumps, KW- Kotlina Wałbrzyska, OL-Obniżenie Leska

[according to J. Wójcik].

Coal mining waste dumps in LSCB – objects with volume

larger than 1 mln m3

Examples of coal mining waste dumps in LSCB