Right at their heels, we could have seen the Ziemowit mine followed by KWK Bolesław Śmiały. In addition to the main prize, KWK Budryk has won also the third prize in “the biggest 2011 progress” category. “I am extremely proud of both awards which I collect on behalf of all KWK Budryk employees. It is mainly thanks to their hard work that we can say to be working in the Best Mine in Poland,” said Piotr Chmiel, the director of KWK Budryk, during an official gala in Krakow. An official announcement of the results as well as the awards presentation took place yesterday evening (23 February) during an official gala organised by the School of Underground Mining (Szkoła Eksploatacji Podziemnej) in the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Krakow. The school is also the main competition organiser, along with the Mining Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Górnicza Izba Przemysłowo-Handlowa) and the prof. Wacław Cybulski “Safe Mining" Foundation (Fundacja Bezpieczne Górnictwo im. prof. Wacława Cybulskiego). The main competition criteria are the ratios illustrating capacity, yield and the revenues. KWK Budryk is one of five mines owned by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa and employs over 2,500 people. In 2011, the mine operations in KWK Budryk reached 3.3 million tons of coal, and there were over 15.5 km of new galleries drilled.

photo: Jarosław Galusek