The paper presents the situation regarding the reclamation of post-mining land in the case of particular lignite mines in Poland until 2012 against the background of the whole opencast mining. It discusses the process of land purchase for mining operations and its sales after reclamation. It presents the achievements of mines in the reclamation and regeneration of post-mining land as a result of which-after development processes carried out according to European standards-it now serves the inhabitants as a recreational area that increases the attractiveness of the regions.

The national power industry is based primarily on its own energy mineral resources such as hard and brown coal. Approximately 80% of electrical energy production from these minerals gives us complete energy independence and the cost of its production from coal is the lowest in comparison to other...

The Konin region is widely considered to be the cradle of lignite mining in Poland, having probably exploited as early as the 12th century on the outskirts of the present-day town of Konin. However, not until the first half of the 20th century were lignite-rich deposits discovered. In turn, industrial lignite mining in this region was initiated by the Germans during the Second World War and has been continued by Polish crews since 1945. Thus, 80 years of Polish history of Konin Lignite Mine (KLM) will be celebrated in 2025. Over eight decades, KLM has launched several opencasts, only one of which remains at the start of 2025. During this time, hundreds of millions of tonnes of lignite (646.1 million tonnes) have been mined. In order to extract such large quantities of lignite, billions of cubic metres of water (6.14 billion m3) and overburden (3.59 billion m3) had to be pumped out and removed, respectively. In this way, the natural environment in the vicinity of Konin was strongly transformed geologically, hydrogeologically and geomorphologically. The results of these changes include numerous anthropogenic hills (external dumps) and water reservoirs (mining lakes). They, along with other post-mining areas, have been subject to reclamation since at least the 1970s. KLM is carrying out reclamation works in the following directions: water, forest, agricultural, recreational, etc. It is currently expected that lignite mining in the Konin region will most likely end in 2026–2027.

The mining equipment in quarrying comes in similar configurations regardless of the type of the useful deposit processed. The sensible choice of quarrying mining equipment components, such as transport means, loaders, excavators and processing machines should be based on a detailed analysis of the technical and economic aspects involved, while taking into account the deposit conditions.To determine the cost structure of the mining equipment for the analysed deposit conditions, five configurations of quarrying equipment were suggested, differing by preliminary crushing location, the number of machines, the number of employees (operators) and the length of transport routes The analysis presented in this paper demonstrates the cost structures of using various quarrying equipment configurations for deposits characterised by substandard quality characteristics. Further work should be conducted to determine the component usage costs of modified equipment in quarrying deposits of reduced quality.

The increasing use of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, presents challenges to the stability and efficiency of other energy sources due to their intermittent and unpredictable surpluses. The unintended consequence of stabilizing the power supply system is an increase in emissions and external costs from the suboptimal use of coal power plants. The rising number of RES curtailments needs to be addressed by either the adjusting energy supply from fossil fuel or the flexible energy consumption. In Poland’s energy mix, coal-fired power plants are a critical component in ensuring energy security for the foreseeable future. Using domestic lignite to generate a total power of 8.5 GW can stabilize the national power supply, as it is currently done in Germany, where 15 GW of lignite-fueled power units provide the power supply base for the country. The leading Belchatów power plant comprises 10 retrofitted units and one new unit, with a total rating of 5.5 GW. Access to the new coal deposit, Zloczew, is necessary to ensure its longer operation. The other domestic lignite power plants are located in Central Poland at Patnów (0.47 GW from the new unit and 0.6 GW from its three retrofitted counterparts) and located in the Lusatian lignite basin at Turów (operating a brand new unit rated at 0.5 GW and retrofitted units with a total rating of 1.5 GW). The use of this fuel is currently being penalized as a result of increasing carbon costs. However, the continuous surface mining technology that is used in lignite mines is fully electrified, and large amounts of electric energy are required to remove and dump overburden and mining coal and its conveying to power units (the transport of coal from the new lignite mine Zloczew to the Belchatów power plant would be a long-distance operation). A possible solution to this problem is to focus on the lignite fuel supply operations of these power plants, with extensive simulations of the entire supply chain. A modern lignite mine is operated by one control room, and it can balance the dynamic consumption of surplus renewable energy sources (RESs) and reduce the need for reduction. When a lignite supply chain is operated this way, a high-capacity power bank can be created with energy storage in the form of an open brown coal seam. This would enable an almost emission-free supply of cheap and domestic fossil fuel, making it insensitive to changes in the world prices of energy resources for power units operating at the base of the system. Furthermore, extending the life of relatively new and efficient lignite-fired units in Poland would facilitate the decommissioning of older and exhausted hard coal-fired units.

Poland is a country with significant lignite resources. Prospecting for and exploring lignite deposits, as well as lignite extraction, requires prior acquisition of an appropriate concession. As concessions serve as instruments for regulating economic activity—and thereby constitute a form of permissible restriction on such activity under the Polish Constitution—the legal provisions governing them must be enacted by statute. This article analyzes the role of state policies relating to lignite extraction and its use in electricity generation, and examines the concession procedure as a regulatory instrument, with a particular focus on one specific ground for refusing to grant a concession: inconsistency with the state’s raw material interest. The main research question addresses whether the incorporation of the state’s raw material interest as grounds for refusal complies with constitutional standards and whether policy documents—specifically the State Raw Materials Policy and the State Energy Policy—can effectively guide its interpretation. The analysis concludes that, while the constitutional framework permits such a ground for refusal, current policy documents require updates and greater specificity to ensure legal certainty and consistency in administrative practices.