Visonta Coal Mine

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Visonta Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Visonta, Heves, Hungary.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Visonta Coal Mine	Visonta, Heves, Hungary	47.747895, 20.055917 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1964	2027 (planned)

Table 3: Operation details

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	1.7	2024	Surface	Open Pit	–	80	749.5021438052992

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
–	2022	2150	–	Lignite	Thermal	Coal Plant

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Note: To access more comprehensive data on energy ownership, please visit the Global Energy Ownership Tracker.

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Mátrai Erömü Zrt (MÁTRA) [100.0%]	RWE Power [33%]; Magyar Villamos Müvek Zrt [33%]; ENBW Trust [33%]	Germany

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

Note: The asterisk (*) indicates that the value is an estimated figure based on various factors, including the company's forecasted or reported monthly or quarterly production data, etc.

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Saleable	–	3.9*	3.4*	3.05*	2.5*	2.44*	2*	1.7	–

Note: The above sections were automatically generated and are based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker August 2026 release.

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Background

The Visonta and Bükkábrány mines are operated by Mátrai Erömü Zrt (MÁTRA) in Visonta, Heves, Hungary.

The two mines provide coal to the Matra power station. The Visonta mine is adjacent to the Bükkábrány mine. Production is reported in total for MATRA and is assumed to come in equal parts from the two mines.

Surface mining activity of Visonta started in 1964 with opening the mining pit K-I, which was followed by exploiting the Western mine, then the mine K-II. In the Southern mine overburden production was completed at the end of 2020, coal excavation was completed in the first quarter of 2020. As a continuation of the mining field K-II (Eastern), excavation of the mine Eastern-III (K-III) began on 8 September 2015. The coal from the mine K-III is transported to the power plant on a conveyor line of 11.8 km length.

The two approved mining fields of MÁTRA's opencast operations held approximately 770 million tonnes of lignite reserves, according to Euracoal. The CEO of MVM Mátra Energia stated at a conference in January 2025 that the mines contained enough coal reserves for one hundred years, and that mining equipment could continue operating for another thirty years with continuous modernisation.

Production

In 2022, MÁTRA produced 4.9 million tonnes of lignite. In 2023, combined output from the two mines totalled 4.1 million tonnes of lignite.

Coal Phase-Out

On July 2020, the company unveiled plans to build a 500 MW gas-fired unit at its facility in Visonta (80 kilometers northeast of Budapest), as well as 440 MW solar parks at its mines. In November 2023, the government of Hungary reportedly stated that the decommissioning of Matra power station would be delayed until the 650 MW gas-fired replacement project was brought online. The gas plant was expected to begin operating in 2027. This was despite Hungary's 2021 commitment to phase out coal by 2025.

In January 2025, MVM (Magyar Villamos Művek), Hungary's state-owned energy company, closed the tender for a 500–650 MW CCGT replacement plant at the Mátra site; the contract was awarded to a consortium of Status KPRIA, Elsewedy Electric and West Hungária Bau. Construction began in September 2025, with completion scheduled for 2028. Lignite-fired units at Mátra, and by extension the Visonta and Bükkábrány mines, were therefore expected to remain in operation until the end of 2028.

Post-mining Lignite Use

A January 2025 conference in Bükkábrány, jointly organised by the local municipality, the University of Miskolc, and MVM Mátra Energia, examined alternative uses for lignite after energy production ceases. Presentations focused on extracting humic acid from lignite powder for use as an agricultural soil conditioner. The CEO of MVM Mátra Energia indicated the company aimed to sustain extraction of approximately one million tonnes per year of lignite for non-energy purposes over the long term, with a target of reaching 100,000 tonnes of processed product within two to three years. The University of Miskolc was reported to be preparing plans for producing charred lignite (pyrogenic carbon) within the company's existing infrastructure. Hungarian Agriculture Minister Nagy István attended the event and described lignite-based soil products as an innovative tool supporting the sustainability of Hungarian agriculture.

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.