After nearly two and a half centuries, hard coal mining in the Czech Republic has officially come to an end. The final mining shift emerged from the ČSM mine in the Ostrava–Karviná coal basin late on Sunday night. A symbolic final cart of coal is set to be brought to the surface on Wednesday. Miners will continue descending underground in the coming months, but only to dismantle equipment and complete the closure of the ČSM mine.

Among the workforce, feelings of reconciliation and resignation prevail. Many simply shrug and prefer not to speak much about the end of mining, including preparation worker Lukáš Budaj on the day of his final shift. “I feel bad about it, but what can I do? There’s nothing else left for me. At the same time, I feel some relief. There are job offers, and I already know where I’m heading.” His colleague Petr Foltýn from the equipment division is leaving after an impressive 41 years underground. “I accept it as a fact. I’ve come to terms with it. I’m looking forward to retirement.” Older retired miners, many of whom still proudly wear their uniforms, speak more openly. One of them is Karel Piško: “From an economic perspective, it’s certainly not good that we are closing all the shafts. We have steelworks. We still need coke.”  

Demand for Czech hard coal has been steadily decreasing, says Roman Sikora, CEO of the mining company OKD. At the same time, no new miners are entering the profession. The average age of the current workforce is nearly 50. The ČSM mine, originally called the Czechoslovak Youth Mine, is owned by OKD, historically the country’s largest mining company and Czechia’s sole producer of hard coal. Construction of the mine began in 1958, and the first coal was extracted in December 1968. By the end of 2025, it had produced approximately 124 million tons of coal — an average of about 2.2 million tons annually over its 57-year operation. More than 400 million tons of coal remain in the mine’s extraction area, but according to Sikora, they are no longer economically viable to mine. “There are reserves beneath us, but they are unextractable — economically, geologically, and in terms of workforce capacity.

Mining them would also impact built-up areas. We would need to relocate parts of the population, particularly in Karviná’s Staré Město district.” OKD is now planning its post-mining future. The company intends to focus on energy production using purchased coal and existing reserves. It also plans to develop property in the Staré Město area, land previously designated for further mining. Meanwhile, nearly two billion tons of hard coal will remain underground across the Ostrava and Karviná regions and parts of the Beskydy Mountains, according to the state-owned company Diamo.

The abandoned underground workings will gradually be flooded, effectively rendering the remaining coal inaccessible. For comparison, around 1.7 billion tons of hard coal have been mined in the entire Ostrava–Karviná basin since 1770 — less than the amount that will now permanently remain beneath the surface.

Source:   Radio Prague International, https://english.radio.cz/czechias-last-hard-coal-mine-closes-250-years-mining-come-end-8876568