Zenica Coal Mine

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Zenica Coal Mine is a coal mine in Zenica-Doboj, Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Zenica Coal Mine	Zenica-Doboj, Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina	44.1887722213418, 17.9328965975453 (exact)

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

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Closed	–	1880	2024

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	0.2	2023	Underground	–	–	494*	1177

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
131	2008	179	–	Subbituminous	Thermal	Kakanj Thermal Power Plant

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
RMU Zenica doo	Elektroprivreda BiH dd [90.4%]; others [9.6%]	Bosnia and Herzegovina

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
Saleable	0.4	0.561	0.44	0.4	0.4*	0.3*	0.2*

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September and December supplements.

Background

Zenica Coal Mine is an UNDERGROUND mine in Zenica-Doboj, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It includes three small underground mines Stara jama, Raspotočje and Stranjani. RMU Zenica operates the mine, which is owned by Elektroprivreda BiH.

The mine comprises three underground deposits: Stara jama, Raspotočje and Stranjani.

The company's (undated) website states that "in order to preserve the continuity of production in all three sections, from 1983 onwards, the chamber mining method is used, as an alternative method, as no significant investments were made in the company to regain the wide-faced method. Coal production in the last five years amounts averaged 0.32 million tonnes pear year.

In September 2014, there was a devastating rock burst with fatal consequences in the Raspotočje mine, which is why the federal mining inspection banned all works in the eastern part of the 8th tectonic terrace of the main coal seam.

Production at the Stranjani pit was suspended in 2019 and a little less than a year later, in June 2020, the Stranjani pit was officially closed.

Coal from the mine is used to supply the Kakanj Thermal Power Plant.

Resructuring and Closure

The parent company Elektroprivreda was planning to undertake restructuring and recapitalization of its seven coal mines over 2021-2023. The company also planned to adjust its coal mines with the national plan to reduce emissions, which will affect the drop in overall production (5 million tons of coal in 2021 is expected to drop to 4.6 by 2022 and 4.3 in 2023).

Experts anticipated in 2021 that none of Bosnia’s remaining 11 coal mines will remain operational in the coming decades as eco pressures grow and the country seeks to clean up as it courts EU membership.

In June 2023, the mine was reported to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Stara Jama mine section was closing due to the lack of production manpower and all miners moved to the only remaining pit - Raspotočje. Production was suspended several times already due to unpaid wages in 2022. In the first 4 months of 2023, only 62 thousand tonnes of coal were produced.

Operations were suspended in early October 2023 due to difficult financial situation and the non-payment of salaries to the workers for August 2023. It appeared that about 90 employees were made redundant (from 800 to 711) in October as part of the restructuring. It appeared that operations were then on an off, but were finally ceased in March 2024, awaiting the final closure of the mine.

In July 2024, it was reported that the mine is closing due to unprofitability. 600 miners were said to be employed then. Unions highlighted the delays in the payment of pension contributions dragging on for ten or twelve years.

In December 2024, it was announced that Bosnia and Herzegovina is shutting down RMU Zenica, citing significant financial losses as the primary reason. The law on the closure of the Zenica brown coal mine was being prepared.

Articles and Resources

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.