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The Nováky coal mine is an underground lignite coal mine in Trenčín Region, Slovakia.
It ceased operations in December 2023.
Location
The map below shows the exact location of the mine, in the town of Nováky, in Prievidza District, Trenčín Region, Slovakia.
Background
The Nováky coal mine is owned and operated by Hornonitrianske bane Prievidza AS (HBP). It is owned by Hornonitrianske Bane Zamestnanecká AS.[1] HBP is a private company that has a history of over 100 years of mining activities.[2]
It is now the only producing mine in Slovakia. In September 2021, coal mining was terminated in the oldest coal mine in Slovakia - Handlová coal mine, which was also operated by HBP. The only mining operation of the company in which coal mining is actively taking place until the end of 2023 is the Nováky mine. [3]
In 2020, the two mines Nováky and Handlová coal mine produced a total of 1.1 million tonnes, all of which was supplied to the Novaky power station.[4] The power plant is located just a few kilometres away from the mine.
In 2022 the mine sold 0.96 million tonnes.[5] It's assumed that production level was the same. The company planned to mine 0.73 million tonnes in 2023.[6]
In April 2023, a methane accident at the mine resulted in 9 miners miners injured, 4 were in critical conditions.[7]
Closure in 2023
As of 2018, the mine was scheduled to be closed in 2027.[8] This was later amended to the end of 2023 following the government’s plans to stop subsidies for domestic mining.[9] Subsidies should have previously ended in 2030, but in 2018, the government decided on 2023 as the end date. The company can theoretically continue mining without the subsidies as mining itself is not prohibited, but the company ruled this out.[9] By the end of 2023, the coal-fired Novaky power station should close as well.[9]
The state will provide HBP with a subsidy of almost 14.7 million euros in 2023 to facilitate the closure. The subsidy is intended to cover the extraordinary costs of closing production units specifically the sixth, seventh and eleventh mining fields of Novaky. The subsidy also concerns the surface objects of the central plant of the Handlová mine and the central plant of the Nováky II mine in the cadastral territory of Sebedražia.[10] This is presumably part of the Territorial Just Transition Plan that the European Commission has adopted for Slovakia with the total investment of €459 million. The Plan includes, inter alia, the Trenčín /Upper Nitra region where the mine is located and anticipates the creating of new jobs and enhancing energy efficiency measures for public buildings and innovative solutions for renewable energy.[11]
In at least 2024 and 2025, the company will provide work on the closure of the underground mine, the liquidation of mining operations and the revitalization of the territory affected by mining activity, according to another source from April 2023.[6] Funds will also be used for extraordinary expenses for employees who lost their jobs, safety work underground during the closure of mines, for the rehabilitation of surface objects of mining sites and surface reclamation.[6] The mine employed over 1000 miners as of April 2023.[6]
In December 2023, Slovenské Elektrárne announced that they had retired the Novaky power plant.[12] Likewise, the website of Hornonitrianske bane Prievidza stated that "the history of industrial coal mining on the Upper Nitra ended on December 20, 2023, with the last ton of coal from the mine".[5][13]
Mine Details
- Owner: Hornonitrianske bane Prievidza AS
- Parent Company: Hornonitrianske bane zamestnanecká AS[1]
- Location: Nováky, Prievidza District, Trenčín Region, Slovakia
- GPS Coordinates: 48.7157985, 18.5562856 (exact)
- Status: Closed (2023)[5][13]
- Production: 1.1 Mt (2020, together with Handlová coal mine), 0.96 million tonnes (2022)[5]
- Total Reserves: 145 million tonnes (2006)[14]
- Recoverable Reserves: 32 million tonnes (2006)[14]
- Coal type: Lignite (Thermal)
- Mine Type: Underground
- Start Year: 1940[15]
- Source of Financing:
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Company management". https://www.hbp.sk/. Retrieved February 2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help); External link in|website= - ↑ "Euracoal - SLOVAKIA". https://euracoal.eu/. Retrieved February 2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help); External link in|website= - ↑ "Poslanie a vízia". https://www.hbp.sk/. Retrieved February 2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help); External link in|website= - ↑ Hnedé uhlie, Hornonitrianske bane Prievidza (HBP) website, accessed Apr. 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Hnedé uhlie". https://www.hbp.sk/. 2023.
{{cite web}}: External link in|website= - ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Hornonitrianski baníci plánujú v tomto roku vyťažiť 780.000 ton uhlia". www.teraz.sk. April 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "News digest: Several burned miners in coal mine incident". spectator.sme.sk. April 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Pavol Szalai, "Hornonitrianske bane budú čerpať dotácie a ťažiť uhlie aj po roku 2023", EURACTIV, 23 Nov. 2018.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Last Slovak coal mines to close in 2023". https://www.euractiv.com/. January 2023.
{{cite web}}: External link in|website= - ↑ "Štát poskytne Hornonitrianskym baniam Prievidza finančnú pomoc pri ich zatváraní". www.trend.sk. June 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "EU Cohesion Policy: €459 million for a just climate transition in Slovakia". ec.europa.eu. November 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Nováky Power Plant closes down, marking the end of 70 years of coal mining in Slovakia," Slovenské Elektrárne, December 19, 2023
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "News digest: Final coal mining cart pulled from Nováky mine". spectator.sme.sk/. December 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 14.0 14.1 Inforse, "Brown Coal in Slovakia (PDF)", Inforse website, Accessed June 2021
- ↑ "History - 100 years of mining coal in the Upper Nitra". www.hbp.sk. unknown.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
