“The availability of resources is the most important aspect of securing future business for any company involved in the extraction of natural resources. For this reason, we consider the continuous expansion of our resource base to be among our top-priority activities. Access to mining deposits is the basis for our existence. Because the process of obtaining a mining concession for new deposits is long-lasting, we need to plan for it many years in advance. Six months ago, we adopted our Strategy 2018-2030 taking into consideration the subsidiaries of the JSW Group, yet we have been prompted by recent events to take alternative actions aimed at identifying the opportunities for securing resources in new areas," said Daniel Ozon, President of the Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa Management Board.
According to preliminary estimates, due to the disastrous accident in the Zofiówka Mine, its coal output in 2018 will decline by 380,000 tons. It will be possible to present the final estimate of coal reserves excluded from mining operations only following the completion of work by the committee appointed to investigate this issue by the State Mining Authority, which will probably take place some time in Q3 2018.
In this situation, it is the intention of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa to intensify efforts aimed at securing access to coking coal resources in other regions. Exploratory activities are underway in the areas of Bzie-Dębina and Warszowice-Suszec. The feasibility of the Dębieńsko and Jan Karski projects is also in the process of preliminary evaluation by Prairie Mining Ltd.
Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa is considering a spin-off within its structures of a new mine covering the deposits of Bzie Dębina 1-West and Bzie Dębina 2-West, currently located in the mining area of the Borynia-Zofiówka-Jastrzębie Mine. The estimated recoverable coal reserves in these deposits are 185.2 million tons, with type-35 (hard) coking coal accounting for approx. 95% of the resources.
Warszowice-Suszec is another significant exploratory area. At the beginning of this year, Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa obtained a concession and planned the drilling of exploratory wells. To acquire a more thorough knowledge of the deposit, JSW intends to drill 5 more exploratory wells in the near future. The area of covered by these efforts includes certain unexplored deposits located north of the Pniówek Mine, containing type-35 (hard) coking coal.
Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa has also entered into discussions with Prairie Mining Limited on the execution of two projects: the Dębieńsko Mine and the Jan Karski Mine. Theoretically, JSW may access the Dębieńsko-1 deposit from the Szczygłowice Mine. Whether or not this would be possible within the framework of the formal configuration of the project is currently under analysis. The total resources of this deposit are estimated at 301 million tons, while the recoverable resources are estimated at 93 million tons. The planned mine operation period is approx. 50 years.
As regards the Jan Karski Mine project, the total resources are estimated at 728 million tons of coal, while the recoverable resources are estimated at 352 million tons. However, it should be emphasized that at this stage of the discussions, there is no certainty that the outcome of the analyses and discussions will lead to the execution of any contract, nor is there any certainty as to the form or terms of any deal between the parties involved.
Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa is a company involved in the extraction of natural resources, hence an appropriate resource base is of significant value to its existence. For this reason, the Company is continuously working on exploring its resource base in terms of size and quality and on matching this resource base to the technical and economic mining capacity. The expansion of JSW’s resource base is also an element of JSW’s new strategy until 2030. Only a consistent pursuit of exploration efforts by the Company will ensure a long-term security of its mining operations and a good financial standing for many years to come.