How coal is mined in OKD

The mining company OKD, a. s. is the only producer of hard coal in the Czech Republic; its coal is mined in the southern part of the Upper-Silesian coal basin.

All OKD mines are deep mines and coal is exploited using shafts and adit system - nowadays exclusively by means of mechanized processes and modern technology. Deep mining is carried out under intricate geological conditions in a series of strata reaching many hundreds of meters deep. The coal is of Paleozoic (carboniferous) age and is exploited from the coal-bearing strata series in the Ostrava and Karviná region. The thickness of the Ostrava seams deposited deeper (exploited by the Paskov Mina - Staříč site, and the Lazy Mine) is between 0.8 and 1.3 m. The thickness of seams in the Karviná region is between 1 and 6.5 meters.

Currently, mining is carried out in the active part of the district in area of 133.65 km² in eight face working areas of the four mines:

Output coal is prepared at the washing plants of the individual mines and is divided according to quality parameters into coal suitable for coking and steam coal.