The sterilization of mineral resources makes considerable amounts inaccessible for future use and may be a barrier to the free supply of commodities. During the exploitation of mineral deposits, some parts of their resources become sterilized as inaccessible because of natural hazards or unfavorable economic conditions. Not mining land use and the social opposition against mining is the purpose of sterilization of considerable demonstrated mineral resources of deposits not yet engaged in exploitation. The native sulfur deposits in Poland are a good example of such “not mining” sterilization, which makes a considerable part of known resources inaccessible. On the northern border of the Carpathian Foredeep within the Miocene gypsum formation, the systematic exploration had demonstrated about 1 billion tons of sulfur resources located in the deposits of varied dimensions. The sulfur opencast mining and underground melting (the modified Frasch method) flourished from 1958 up to 1993. The increasing sulfur supply, recoverable from hydrocarbons, caused the closing down of sulfur mines, leaving a place with considerable untouched resources. About 67% of sulfur resources left by closed mines and of other explored but not exploited deposits are sterilized by the advancement of settlements, industrial plants, road construction, and by social opposition against mining.

There are numerous enthusiastic opinions on UCG possibilities. UCG is presented often as suitable for the utilization of coal resources which are inaccessible or difficult for conventional mining. Application of UCG coal basins in Poland is limited by their specific geological features. The most important are: hydrogeological and tectonic restraints, the occurrence of numerous coal seams with which gasification will interact, and the predominance of thin coal seams, less than 1.5 m thick. The detailed evaluation of hard (bituminous) coal resources in Poland explored up to 1.000 m depth, and careful selection of possible UCG sites has demonstrated that only about 10% of it may be gasified underground. Reasonable resource utilization is a serious problem in the multi-seam coal deposits. Coal resources are a nonrenewable part of the environment. Therefore, reasonable resources utilization is defined as their best possible recovery (considering acceptable costs). At the recent state of knowledge on UCG, its application in Poland, contrary to the former expectations, is seriously restrained.

Metallogenic studies carried out in the Holy Cross Mountains indicate a relationship between mineralization and fault tectonics in Devonian formations. The impact of fault formation on the geochemistry of host rocks has not yet been studied. Mineralogical and geochemical studies of fault core gouges and damage zones in the fault walls of Devonian dolomites in the Budy and Jurkowice quarries were carried out. In the clay-carbonate filling of the fault fissure, the presence of two generations of Fe sulfides, the increased content of Zr, Nb, U and Th in relation to the surrounding rocks was noted. In the fault walls of the dolomites, iron sulfide and hematite mineralization were found. Research on the REE content indicates that it is lower in the fault walls than in those located far from it, while it is clearly higher in the fault gouge, especially in terms of the content of “heavy” elements (HREE). This indicates both the supply of some components to the fault zone from external sources and their displacement from the surrounding rocks. It was also found that the fault was renewed before and after the Neogene at least twice (Badenian) Wykonane badania metalogeniczne w Górach Świętokrzyskich wskazują na związek mineralizacji w utworach dewonu z zaburzeniami tektonicznymi, w szczególności uskokami. Procesy mineralizacji bezpośrednio w strefach uskokowych nie były dotychczas badane. Wykonano badania mineralogiczne i geochemiczne utworów ze strefy uskokowej w dolomitach dewońskich w kamieniołomie Budy. W ilasto-węglanowym wypełnieniu szczeliny uskokowej zwraca uwagę obecność dwu generacji siarczków Fe i podwyższona zawartość Zr i Nb oraz U i Th w stosunku do skał otaczających. W dolomitach w strefie przyuskokowej stwierdzono mineralizację markazytowo-pirytową oraz hematytową. Badania zawartości ziem rzadkich wskazują, że w sąsiedztwie strefy uskokowej ich zawartość jest niższa niż w położonych z dala od niej, natomiast w glince uskokowej jest wyraźnie wyższa, zwłaszcza zawartość pierwiastków „ciężkich” (HREE). Wyniki tych badań wskazują zarówno na doprowadzenie do strefy uskokowej niektórych składników z zewnątrz, jak i przemieszczanie ze skał otaczających. Stwierdzono także co najmniej dwukrotne odnawianie uskoku.

Variation of coal quantity accumulated in the Mississippian to Pennsylvanian coal seams (Upper Silesia and Lublin Coal basins, Poland): a reflection of changes in climate and CO2 availability