On 31 January 2026, on a grey winter’s day, the final shipment of coal rolled out of the ČSM mine in the municipality of Stonava (in Karviná, near the Polish border). With this, after 250 years, an industrial era has drawn to a close in the Czech Republic. This is not merely the closure of a mine shaft – it marks the end of a story that began in the Middle Ages and, following 18th-century explorations, transformed the Ostrava–Karviná basin into the industrial heart of Europe. From now on, Poland remains the only EU Member State to continue deep coal mining.
Author: Sámuel Kálló
The first documented attempt at coal mining in the Czech lands dates back to 1753, when Václav Kořenský discovered coal near Přerov and Olomouc in the Ostrava region and arranged for test burnings in one of Brno’s smithies. However, the effort came to nothing, and the rich coal source fell into obscurity for several decades. Archaeological and written records nonetheless show that geological surveys were already under way in the mid-17th century in the Těšín and Frýdek regions in search of ore deposits. Owing to limited resources, however, even promising discoveries were often left unexploited.
The true turning point came on 29 August 1763, when Jan Augustin, a miller from Klimkovice, discovered a coal seam in the Ostrava–Karviná area. Tests carried out by local blacksmiths yielded encouraging results: the coal proved to be of excellent quality. This led to the start of systematic coal exploration in the Ostrava region, and by 1782 coal mining had been officially authorised in Silesian Ostrava.
Exploration and early production progressed slowly prior to the Industrial Revolution. Following the nationalisation of the mines in Silesian Ostrava in 1789, extraction accelerated dramatically.
From the early 19th century onwards, the Rothschild family and other major investors poured vast sums into the region. By the 1830s, the Rudolf Ironworks in Vítkovice required substantial coal supplies, and in the decades that followed the Ostrava–Karviná mining district became the industrial heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, both in coal production and in steelmaking.
After the Second World War, in October 1945, President Beneš nationalised the assets of the six largest mining companies by decree. The previously scattered mines were consolidated under a single institution: Ostravsko-karvinské doly (OKD). By 1950, this combined enterprise oversaw not only coal mines but also coking plants, power stations, construction companies, and the renowned steelworks of Třinec and Vítkovice.
Between the 1950s and the 1980s, production grew intensively. In 1980, at its peak, OKD – then part of Czechoslovakia – produced approximately 24.7 million tonnes of coal annually, providing employment for more than 100,000 miners. Compared to the early 1980s, coal mining in the Karviná region accounted for over half of industrial employment. At that time, the region’s industrial development was considered world-class: production levels, technological equipment and occupational safety standards met international benchmarks. Productivity competition remained intense even in the latter half of the 1980s, with OKD continuously modernising its machinery and employing Polish specialists.
At the same time, however, emissions from coal and fuel combustion released carbon monoxide and sulphur oxides into the local atmosphere. Among elderly residents of settlements surrounding the Ostrava–Karviná region, respiratory illnesses were widespread.
The collapse of socialism brought about a rapid industrial decline in the region. The 1990s and 2000s were catastrophic for the Ostrava–Karviná basin: mass redundancies, unemployment and social crisis followed. The privatised OKD found itself operating in a competitive market economy where efficiency alone mattered. Coal mining in the Ostrava region declined by 90 per cent. Most mines closed by 1994, with production continuing only near Karviná.
It was only in the early 2000s, partly due to EU accession and partly owing to South Korean Hyundai investments and other foreign capital inflows, that the region began to recover. Unemployment fell to 6.6 per cent.
According to earlier plans, OKD was to close its last mine in mid-2023. However, after February 2022, the energy crisis justified a temporary extension. Coal prices surged, making extraction profitable once again. This reprieve proved short-lived: the global coal market gradually stabilised, while fundamental local economic challenges remained unresolved.
The figures speak for themselves. By August 2024, Czech coal production had fallen by 20 per cent compared with the same period the previous year. Output at the ČSM mine dropped to 1.14 million tonnes by October 2025 – just 4.6 per cent of the 1980 peak.
With the closure, approximately 1,000 people lost their jobs. Grzegorz Sobolewski, a Polish miner working at ČSM, put it simply: “I’m sorry the mine is closing. It’s hard work, but it’s good work. I’ll miss it.” Sobolewski plans to relocate to Poland, which remains the only EU country still committed to large-scale coal mining, employing around 70,000 people.
The EU’s Just Transition Fund (JTF) has allocated 19 billion Czech koruna (approximately HUF 300 billion) to support the region’s economic transformation. The aim is to create new employment opportunities for workers leaving the coal industry and to restore the environment. In addition, OKD will allocate more than 500 million Czech koruna to redundancy payments for dismissed employees.
The final blocks of coal were transported on 31 January 2026. With them, a 250-year chapter came to an end, leaving serious challenges in its wake.
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