    
NATURAL RESOURCES
Nature has bestowed Poland generously with both non-renewable and renewable
resources. The latter, such as wind and solar energy, are used more and
more frequently, their growing popularity supported by great advances
in technology.
Poland is a country rich in minerals. It is among the world's biggest
producers of hard and brown coal, copper, zinc, lead, sulphur, rock salt
and construction minerals.
As early as in antiquity, the country was famous for its amber, transported
along the Amber Route from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic coast. The largest
amounts of amber, often called Baltic gold, were found at the mouth of
the Vistula and on the Sambia Peninsula (now in Russia's Kaliningrad Region).
It was a much valued material at that time and played a major role in
barter trade with the Meditterranean. Amber was traded most intensively
in the second century AD.
Today Poland remains a major supplier of this material, with its resources
estimated at 12,000 tons. The richest deposit is Mozdzanowo, where a variety
of colours and shades can be found, including some 60 percent of transparent
amber. Significant deposits also exist at the base of the Hel Peninsula,
but they are located too deep (130m). Curiously, new and promising deposits
have been recently discovered in the Lublin Upland.
Facts
Amber is the fossilized resin of Tertiary conifers, sometimes with insects
or plant fragments inside. Since prehistoric times it has been used for
producing jewellery and decorative elements. Amber is extremely luminous
and for this reason it was believed in antiquity to be sun rays frozen
in sea water and washed ashore.
The world's amber capital is Gdansk. Its central ulica Mariacka, lined
with amber shops and galleries, is often called Amber Street. The Church
of St Bridget's has an impressive 175cm-high Amber Monstrance depicting
the Tree of Life and made by local artisans to commemorate the 2000 years
of Christianity. Even more spectacular will be the high altar currently
being built in the church and intended to surpass the famous Amber Chamber.
It will be 11m high and 9m wide, with ambers laid in layers so that the
sun light illuminates them in their full beauty.
The earliest evidence of mining in Poland dates back to 3500 BC when
flint was mined by Neolithic tool makers. In Krzemionki Opatowskie, there
is one of the world's best preserved flint workings (3500-1200 BC). This
is also one of the most valuable archeological sites in Europe.
In the fourth century BC iron ore started to be mined in the Silesian
Upland and the Swietokrzyskie Mountains. At the same time quarries of
construction and ceramic materials (stones, clays etc.) appeared in various
parts of the country, as did lead, copper, silver and gold mines in Silesia
and Malopolska.
In the Middle Ages mining rock salt in Bochnia and Wieliczka near Cracow
was an important industry. The mines were royal property and under the
Piasts and Jagiellons provided one-third of the state's income. Salt money
was spent on maintaining the royal court, castles that protected trade
routes, the army and the Cracow Academy (today's Jagiellonian University)
founded in 1364 by King Casimir the Great.
That period also saw the emergence of the miner as a distinct occupation.
In the 14th century capital companies known as gwarectwa appeared in Poland
to mine precious metals on royal charter. This was the main branch of
mining until the 17th century.
In the mid 18th century coal mining became prominent. The Silesian coalfields
(Zaglebie Dabrowskie, Zaglebie Gornoslaskie, Zaglebie Krakowskie) grew
into major industrial regions. In east Galicia, near Jaslo, Krosno and
Boryslaw, oil mining developed a bit later. After the First World War,
East Podkarpacie became a centre of natural gas mining. In 1919 a mining
academy was established in Cracow with the aim of educating new engineers.
As a result of post-war border shifts, Poland lost most of its resources
of oil and natural gas, while gaining rich deposits of coal in Upper and
Lower Silesia. In the 1970s it became one of the world's biggest producers
of hard coal. In 1979 a record 201 million tons were mined. Hard coal
became the basic fuel and the main hard-currency earner, often referred
to as "black gold". Until the late 1980s coal mining was considered to
be a national industry and miners enjoyed great respect and prestige.
 Hard
and brown coal
Poland's reserves of hard coal are estimated at 45.4 billion tons. With
the current annual production of 102 million tons (in 2000), they will
suffice to meet the country's demand for almost 500 years, that is twice
as long as the world's average. In fact, they will suffice for much longer
as coal is being replaced in Polish economy with environment-friendly
natural gas. For this reason, by 2020 the production of hard coal will
be reduced to some 82 million tons a year, and by 2050 to about 40 million
tons.
Poland has three major Upper Carboniferous coalfields, with 130 deposits
of which 47 are currently exploited, their documented resources estimated
at 16.6 billion tons.
The main coalfield (Gornoslaskie Zaglebie Weglowe) lies in the Silesian
Upland and is among the biggest hard-coal fields in the world. With an
area of about 4,500 sq km, it has as many as 108 deposits, and the most
valuable ones, characterized by high heating value, are located in the
west and north. Coal is currently mined in Silesia in 41 mines. So far,
the Silesian miners have produced some 9 billion tons of this fuel.
Hard coal is also found in the Lublin Upland's Bogdanka coalfield (known
as Lubelskie Zaglebie Weglowe and having 11 deposits). Coal seams stretch
from the Polish-Ukrainian border to Radzyn Podlaski. There is only one
mine here, called Bogdanka, but it is the most modern and profitable mine
in the country. In 2000 it produced 4.25 million tons of coal.
Hard-coal deposits also exist in Lower Silesia, notably in the Walbrzych
and Kamienna Gora area, but they are difficult to exploit and production
is unprofitable, so all the local mines were closed down by 2000.
Second to hard coal among Poland's most important fuels is brown coal.
Its reserves are estimated at nearly 14 billion tons. The deposits are
located in eight regions, mainly in central Poland (coalfields at Konin,
Belchatow and in Wielkopolska) and in its western part (at Turoszow on
the Polish side of the Lusatian Neisse). Opening the mine at Turoszow
in the 1950s marked the beginnings of brown-coal mining in Poland. Today
the country is the world's sixth producer of this fuel, with 78 documented
deposits, of which the exploited twelve have 2.1 billion tons.
Brown coal is utilized almost exclusively by the energy industry, with
98 percent used by large power plants. Mines are situated next to power
plants with which they typically constitute one economic entity. Poland's
biggest brown-coal power plant is Belchatow in the south of the Lodz province.
The Belchtow coalfield is at once the youngest and the biggest brown-coal
field. Discovered in 1960, its deposits were estimated at 2 billion tons.
There are actually three separate fields: Belchatow, Szczercow and Kamiensk.
In 1981 a mine was opened here, which supplies the Belchatow power plant.
It is the biggest and one of the most advanced opencast mines in the world.
Coal is mined here from 100 to 230m below the ground level. The mine's
current production is about 35 million tons a year and it is adjusted
to the needs of the Belchatow power plant. In winter as many as 140,000
tons a day are produced. Mining is carried out predominantly in the Belchatow
field (3,200 ha) which will be used up by 2017. In 2002 the Szczercow
field is planned to be opened, which has similar geology and will additionally
supply a new plant, Belchatow II. These resources will suffice until 2020-2030.
Brown coal is the cheapest fuel used in the energy industry. In Poland,
the cost of producing 1 GJ of energy from it is three times lower than
for hard coal, six times lower than for natural gas and over eight times
lower than for heating oil. However, exploiting brown-coal fields is environmentally
hazardous as it destroys large expanses of soil, changes the surface-water
structure, causes air pollution and is noisy.
Oil
and natural gas
Although the world oil industry was born in Poland, the country can't
compare with Kuweit. On the other hand, Polish geologists, geophysicists
and oil engineers have not said their last word yet. Top-class equipment
and cutting-edge exploration techniques including 3-D seismography make
it possible to discover gas in areas that were once believed to contain
no hydrocarbons. Significant deposits of natural gas are much more likely
to be found in Poland than oil deposits.
Natural oil seepages were known in Poland as early as in the 13th century.
Oil oozed out of the ground and gathered on sandstone outcrops, stream
banks or water surface in a wide belt along the northern rim of the Carpathians.
In the 19th century wells dug out by hand to collect "rock oil" were a
common sight in many parts of Podkarpacie. The substance was used then
for lubricating cart wheels and as a medicine for the cattle. In 1854
Ignacy Lukasiewicz drilled the world's first oil well in Bobrka near Krosno.
Deposits of oil and natural gas have been discovered in the Carpathians,
Carpathian Foreland (the Carpathian Depression), Sudetian Monocline and
Pomerania. Currently there are 92 known and documented deposits of oil,
estimated at 13.7 million tons. In 2000 underground deposits yielded 350,000
tons of oil (64,000 in the south and 279,000 in the Polish Lowland). This
is far less than the country's needs: about 18 million tons of oil and
11 bcm of natural gas a year.
Since 1981 the Baltic shelf has been explored for oil. The Petrobaltic
company, which holds a prospecting licence for 8,600 sq km of the shelf,
has discovered the B3 deposit, situated 80km off the Rozewie Cape, and
has started to exploit it. Another deposit, B8, will be soon ready for
exploitation. The submarine resources, 1400m below the water surface,
are estimated at 20 million tons. This is high-quality oil, almost sulphur-free.
Today the Baltic oil accounts for about half of Poland's oil production.
The submarine oil deposits are accompanied by natural gas deposits; for
every cubic metre of Baltic oil, there are 85 cubic metres of gas. So
far, four gas-condensate deposits have been discovered, estimated at 10
bcm. This gas is planned to be utilized by a gas power station at Zarnowiec
near Gdansk. Waste gas from the B3 field, now burning unproductively,
will be transported through an 82km sea pipeline and then overland to
the popular resort and major fishing harbour of Wladyslawowo, where it
will be used by a thermal power plant.
As the Carpathian deposits have been largely used up and many of them
are being closed down, now most of the country's oil and natural gas comes
from the Polish Lowland. The significance of this region grew even more
in 1996 with the finding of the Barnowko-Mostno-Buszewo (BMB) deposit
near Gorzow Wielkopolski. This is Poland's biggest deposit, estimated
at 10-12 million tons of oil and some 4.5 bcm of high-methane gas. The
Polish Lowland natural gas is found mainly in Permian and Carboniferous
rocks and has a high content of nitrogen. The gas from the Carpathians
and Carpathian Foreland, found in Jurrasic, Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks,
is of better quality, high on methane and low on sulphur.
Of the 242 documented deposits of natural gas in Poland, the biggest are:
Przemysl in the Carpathian Foreland (nearly 21 bcm); Koscian (south-east
of Poznan; 10.4 bcm), exploited only since 1999; and BMB. The biggest
oil deposits are BMB and Cychry, also in the Polish Lowland.
In 2000 a very promising deposit was discovered at Miedzychod in the Notec
Forest. It is almost certain to be as big as BMB, if not bigger. Other
interesting exploration sites are located in the Carpathian Foreland,
between Rzeszow, Przemysl, Lubaczow and Tarnogrod.
Exploration and exploitation of oil and gas deposits in Poland requires
a licence granted by the Ministry of Environment. Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe
i Gazownictwo SA (Polish Oil and Gas Company) holds 97 licences for 51,500
sq km. These are the best-surveyed areas in the country. 120 licences
have been granted to foreign oil prospectors. Most of them (59 licence
blocks) are held by companies co-established by Apache Corporation and
FX Energy. Wielkopolska Energia SA, whose shareholders are El Paso Energy
and Texaco, has 16 licences. Other licence holders include CalEnergy Gas
Polska and RWE-DEA Polska Oil. Most active in the field of hydrocarbons
exploration in Poland are the Americans. Apache Poland holds more licences
than any other foreign prospector and has the largest seismic base. Its
first success was the finding in 2000 of the Wilga natural gas deposit
in central Poland, estimated at 1 bcm.
Metals,
non-metals and rocks
The biggest resources of metals in Poland are those of copper, zinc and
lead. Poland is one of the world's leading producers of copper.
Copper is extracted from sulphide ores found in Zechstein deposits, Europe's
biggest and some of the biggest in the world. The deposits are located
in two Lower Silesia geological units: the North Sudetian Basin (Niecka
Polnocnosudecka) and the Sudetian Monocline (Monoklina Przedsudecka).
The latter also contains many other metals including silver, gold, lead,
selenium and nickel, all of which are mined.
The resources are estimated at 2.5 billion tons of ore, including 49
million tons of metallic copper. In 1998 the resources grew by 14% when
the Glogow Gleboki deposit, situated at more than 1400m underground, was
discovered. The resources of the already exploited deposits - Lubin, Polkowice,
Rudna and Sieroszowice - are 1.5 billion tons of ore, including some 30
million tons of metallic copper.
Copper ore is mined only in the Legnica-Glogow Copper District by KGHM
Polska Miedz SA, Poland's sole producer of copper from primary materials.
In 2000, 27 million tons of ore were mined there, yielding about 480,000
tons of copper.
Zinc-lead ores are located in Malopolska, near Olkusz - one of the country's
oldest mining centres, which developed by exploiting its lead and silver
deposits until the 16th century when it began to decline - as well as
near Boleslaw and Chrzanow.
Poland also has immense deposits of sulphur and is one of the biggest
exporters of it. The deposits located in three areas of the Carpathian
Depression - Staszow, Tarnobrzeg and Lubaczow - are among the richest
in the world (504 million tons). Over the last few years sulphur production
has dropped significantly and in 2000 it was 1.4 million tons, of which
over 50% was exported. This reduction has been largely due to environmental
considerations as it was necessary to remove sulphur from oil, natural
gas and smelter gases produced by sulphur works.
Another mineral in great abundance is rock salt, its resources estimated
at over 80 billion tons. Its biggest deposits are located in Kujawy (about
52 billion tons), Pomerania and the Carpathian Monocline where KGHM Polska
Miedz SA mines it at Sieroszowice. Rock salt is also mined at Klodawa
in the Kujawy region. It is no longer mined at Bochnia and Wieliczka,
the cradle of Polish salt mining. The only work carried out there is for
protecting the old chambers.
Salt mine in Wieliczka. Photo A. Olej/K. Kobus, www.poland.gov.pl
The annual production of salt in Poland is 3.2 million tons, with about
70% produced from brine. Brine deposits support the renowned spa at Ciechocinek
where salt from the wooden graduation towers can be smelt from far away.
Salty air with a great amount of iodine makes you feel like on the Baltic
coast, although the sea is about 200km from here. Ciechocinek was famous
for its subterranean brine springs already in the Middle Ages. In 1235
Duke Konrad of Mazovia granted the Teutonic Order the right to produce
salt by evaporating the brine in exchange for 20 barrels of it a year.
The Teutonic Knights built two saltworks in Ciechocinek which operated
until the end of the 18th century. A new, enormous works was constructed
in the mid 19th century and it was the largest factory of its kind in
the world. The production techniques in Ciechocinek have not changed for
120 years.
All over the country there are also a variety of valuable rocks used for
producing construction materials. The richest deposits are located in
Upper and Lower Silesia, on the outskirts of the Swietokrzyskie Mountains
and in the Lublin Upland. The most important for the economy are carbonate
rocks: limestone, marl, dolomites and natural aggregate, used for road-building.
Facts
The world-famous Wieliczka salt mine can also be visited off the normal
route. Dressed in working clothes and helmets with lamps, tourists walk
around the true, "wild" mine, including the spectacular Crystal Caves.
And don't think that the mine, operating since the 13th century, has no
more secrets left. In early 2000 a new crystal cave was accidentally found
in it. Inside are splendid, sizeable, pure crystals of salt. You'll be
able to visit the new cavern virtually, using special cameras. Also, it's
worth knowing that Wieliczka is the place where the world's biggest salt
crystal was found; today it is a star exhibit at Vienna's Nature Museum.
Renewable
resources
One treasure of Poland that until recently was used little or not at
all is geothermal waters, their resources ranking among the richest in
Europe. They are to be found at one-third of the country's area and are
equivalent to some 3.5 billion tons of oil. This is sufficient for heating
the houses of about 30 million people.
At the moment Poland has a few large geothermal plants. The first one
was opened in Pyrzyce near Szczecin in 1997. Hot water (64*C) rises from
a depth of 1700m. The biggest geothermal project currently underway in
Poland is a chain of thermal plants in the Podhale region like the one
already built in Banska Wyzna. Water at over 90*C is taken through four
wells from a depth of about 3000m. At the moment three Podhale towns use
the geothermal energy, including Zakopane (since 2001). By 2005 all of
Podhale will be heated in this way.
Facts
Geothermal waters under the Tatras were already known in the 19th century.
They emerged as hot springs attracting spotted salamanders which the locals
called jaszczury. This explains the name of the best-known spring in Podhale,
Jaszczurowka, now applied to a neighbourhood in Zakopane. For many years
this spring fed a swimming pool and was used for therapeutic purposes.
Some people believe that its water stimulates metabolism.
Poland is not a major player in hydropower engineering but it has an
over century-long tradition in this field and excellent natural conditions
to utilize the energy of flowing water. In the 20th century about 500
large and medium power plants were built, as were numerous waterwheels
that drive mills, sawmills and fulling mills. After 1945 the priority
was large coal power plants, and hydroelectric plants were neglected.
Today much effort is made to increase the amount of hydroenergy produced
in Poland. The rivers with the greatest potential are the Vistula (80%)
and the Odra (10%). Now a mere 15% of their energy is used. Altogether,
there are 128 large water power plants and about 360 small plants in the
country.
Almost one-third of Poland's territory is conducive for building wind
power plants. The best area is the coastal belt from Swinoujscie to Gdansk,
notably aroud the Rozewie Cape, followed by the Suwalki region, south-west
Poland, parts of Wielkopolska and almost the entire Mazovia. Currently
Poland has about a dozen of modern wind power plants with a capacity of
about 2.5 MW each plus a few tens of smaller plants. The electric energy
produced by wind power plants is estimated to account for some 0.002%
of the country's total production. Optimistic assumptions hold that by
2030 wind power plants will have 6000-9000 MW of installed power, producing
10 TW of energy a year.
Poland also has a relatively large potential of biomass from wastes, which
can be used to produce heat. It is also possible to utilize solar energy
by constructing solar collectors. The country's climatic conditions allow
for the yearly production of 300-500 kWh of energy from every square meter
of collector surface, which is equivalent to 70-100kg of coal.
Renewable resources do not contribute significantly to Poland's economy
but this contribution is bound to grow like in other European countries.
Source: www.poland.gov.pl
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