Polish coal mines are facing a new crisis as domestic producers struggle while cheaper coal continues to enter the Polish market from abroad.
A new scandal is unfolding in Poland, one that could overshadow all previous ones, including the leak of medical data. It is deep autumn, winter is approaching, Europe is gripped by an energy crisis, which everyone has already felt for themselves — and now it turns out that the authorities are quietly bankrupting national coal producers in order to let foreign business tycoons make money.
At the center of this story is the Ukrainian coal business.
Closing Their Own, Bringing in Foreign Coal
On April 1, 2026, the legendary Wujek mine in Katowice ceased production after operating for 127 years. The official reason was the “depletion of reserves”: according to the authorities, extracting the remaining seams required expensive measures to protect nearby residential areas from mining damage, making the mine “unprofitable.” The mine was shut down — in the middle of a fuel crisis.
At the same time, coal from Ukraine began entering Poland. Polish Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchórzewski admitted that a shipment of coal weighing around 11,000 tons had entered the country from Donbas. Ukrainian official Ihor Nasalyk, who was in Warsaw, called the story “unpleasant” — Ukraine imports anthracite from other parts of the world, while Poland is meanwhile trading with a territory that Kyiv considers occupied.
The shipment of coal in question may have been brought in by Doncoaltrade, a company registered in Kyiv. It is owned by Alexander Melnichuk, who previously served as deputy head of the energy department of the unrecognized Luhansk Republic, Polish Gazeta Prawna reported.
But this is only part of the picture. A much larger story is the attempt by a Ukrainian company to enter the Polish coal market at a time when Polish mines are closing one after another.
The “Savior” from Donbas
Coal Energy — a holding company registered in Luxembourg that has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2011. In the past, it operated 10 coal mines in the Donetsk Basin, over which it lost control. Moreover, it lost access to documentation concerning these assets — this was the reason why the auditor did not express an opinion on the results of the audit of the 2024 financial statements. The auditors also expressed uncertainty related to the continuation of operations because of the net loss, significant liabilities and negative equity as of June 30, 2024.
The founder and head of Coal Energy, Viktor Vishnevetsky, is a mining engineer who graduated from Donetsk State Technical University and defended his doctoral dissertation in 1999. In his academic work, he developed methods for protecting main mine workings in Ukrainian mines, which, according to him, made it possible to restart unprofitable mines. Now he wants to apply this experience in Poland.
In Poland, the company is looking at the assets of Siltech in Zabrze, which ceased operations at the end of 2025.
“As of December 31, 2025, we are closing down permanently. We are currently exploiting the remaining reserves, while selected galleries are being filled with backfill material. After this date, the mine’s property can be taken over,” says Jan Chojnacki, chairman of Siltech.
Coal Energy signed a letter of intent with Siltech in April 2025, but there is still no specific agreement. The company has also not yet submitted an application for a mining concession — first it wants to conduct the necessary technical studies.
“We want to exploit the deposits located in the vicinity of Siltech using the room-and-pillar system. This system of seam extraction requires equipment that is significantly cheaper than longwall equipment. At the same time, production costs are lower compared with the traditional longwall system. It is a profitable activity even during seasonal declines in the prices of the thermal coal being extracted,” Vishnevetsky assures.
The company’s financial position, however, leaves much to be desired. Coal Energy is valued on the GPW at just over 100 million zlotys. After ceasing operations in Ukraine, it generates insignificant revenue from carrying out mining works for the largest companies in Poland’s industry and also incurs losses. In the second half of last year — the latest available data — revenue amounted to only $2.17 million.
How does the company intend to finance its mining projects?
“We plan to attract financing for coal production from private investors,” says Vishnevetsky. For now, this involves raising capital through an issue of convertible bonds and subscription warrants worth more than 14.5 million zlotys in total. In mid-July, the company signed a letter of intent with ABO Securities — an entity that in the past provided financing in exchange for instruments convertible into shares to Polish listed companies from various industries, often companies in poor condition, such as the telemedicine company Braster.
Ultimately, Coal Energy wants to sell coal mined at the Zabrze mine both in Poland and abroad, primarily in… Ukraine. It is also looking at mines being closed in other Central and Eastern European countries, especially Romania.
5 Billion from the State
At the same time, another story is unfolding in Poland. The Silesia mine in Czechowice-Dziedzice, operated by the subsidiary PG Silesia, which is part of the Bumech group, is demanding PLN 5 billion in compensation from the State Treasury. The lawsuit covers claims for 2023–2025, with the value of the subject matter of the dispute set at PLN 5.01 billion.
The company claims that its situation was affected by the decision of then-Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to carry out an intervention coal import in July 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At that time, PGE Paliwa and Węglokoks were instructed to urgently purchase and import 4.5 million tons of coal into Poland — from Colombia, Indonesia, South Africa and Australia. State-owned companies received special conditions: financial guarantees, coverage of the full costs of purchasing and transporting the coal, compensation for selling coal below its purchase price, and priority access to ports and railways. Bumech believes that such decisions distorted competition on the coal market. The European Commission is also analyzing the consequences of the intervention imports.
Silesia itself is going through difficult times. Bumech’s main shareholder, Marcin Sutkowski, openly says that the mine “is bankrupt”:
“For months, not enough coal has been extracted here to cover 50–60% of the costs.” According to him, there are no coal reserves above ground — “everything has been sold.” During the Christmas holidays of 2025, part of the workforce held a protest at the mine: on December 22, workers refused to go underground, protesting against planned layoffs and the lack of protective measures. On December 29, the government, Bumech and the trade unions signed an agreement, and the protest was ended.
In mid-February 2026, Sutkowski accused trade unionists from “Solidarity” of preparing a hostile takeover of the Silesia mine. In an open letter, he asked whether a trade union organization could simultaneously represent workers and prepare to take control of the employer. These accusations appeared several months after the end of the protest and the signing of the agreement on protective measures.
The Polish government explains the 2022 intervention imports by the need to ensure energy security after the embargo on Russian coal. At the time, Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal offered Poland 100,000 tons of Ukrainian coal as aid.
But the picture emerging now looks different. The state financially supports importers, who flood the market with cheaper coal, while domestic mines lose competitiveness and close. They are replaced by companies such as Coal Energy — with Ukrainian roots, Donbas experience and a promise of “cheap technologies.” And, to top it all off, the state faces a PLN 5 billion lawsuit from those who are still trying to survive within this system.
While some believe that Poland is saving its energy sector, others are asking the question: is this a restructuring of the market in which national interests are being replaced by the interests of individual companies and their owners?
