Polish underground coking coal miner JSW Group has announced that a new longwall has been launched at the KWK Borynia-Zofiówka-Bzie mine in the Bzie Section of the Bzie-Dębina 2-Zachód mining area. It is currently in the startup stage.

The N-1 longwall will be mined in seam 416/3 until January 2024. The length of the longwall is 220 m, and its strike is more than 560 m. The longwall’s resources include more than 450,000 t of high quality coking coal. The longwall is 2.6 to 3 m high and has been equipped with 145 sections of powered supports and a longwall conveyor, which were manufactured by Jastrzębskie Zakłady Remontowe (a JSW Group company), as well as a JOY-7LS22 longwall shearer which is made by Komatsu Mining.

The opening of part of the Bzie-Dębina coal deposit is one of JSW’s strategic investments to extract coking coal. Initially, it was assumed that the first coal from the area would come in late 2021. However, difficult geological and mining conditions stood in the way. This is the second longwall operated in the Bzie Section, but the first after the change in the deposit opening concept.

“This is another mining front launched at the company. The longwall startup stage and the setting up of the front will be followed by normal mining of the seam,” said Edward Paździorko, Vice-President of JSW SA’s Management Board for Technology and Operations.