Poland’s JSW declared force majeure after a mine fire

Polish coking coal producer Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) said that the fire that occurred in early December 2023 at the company’s mine in Pniówek (KWK Pniówek) will lead to a reduction in coking coal production by 350 thousand tons in 2024. This is reported by S&P Global.

JSW said that it had decided to declare force majeure and inform the company’s contractors about it.

«It is impossible to determine the full impact of this event on the company’s future prospects,» the message says.

The Pniówek mine, which began operations in 1974, has estimated reserves of 101.9 million tons. Since 2008, the mine has been expanded by the neighboring Pawlowice 1 deposit, which has 54 million tons of 35.1 type coking coal reserves.

The incident at the mine occurred on December 6, 2023, when sensors detected elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the area of longwall N-10, indicating a fire. Seven employees of a third-party company working in the longwall were removed from the area, and no one was injured. The company informed that firefighting measures were completed on December 20, and the mine rescuers isolated longwall N-10.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa in the third quarter of 2023 reduced sales of steel coke by 20.4% compared to the previous quarter, and by 13.6% y/y – to 700,000 tons. Sales of coking coal during this period increased by 0.4% compared to the previous quarter, and decreased by 1.1% by the third quarter of 2022 – to 2.65 million tons.