Firms spend billions of crowns on mine reclamation over 30 years

CTK

Czech companies have allocated billions of crowns for mine reclamation since the 1989 Velvet Revolution that triggered the fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, and they plan to invest more, according to statements of brown coal miners CTK approached.

Severoceske doly company from CEZ energy group has invested Kc6.7bn in land reclamation since its establishment in 1994. It plans to allot about Kc11bn more in northern Bohemia by 2060, Severoceske doly head Ivo Pegrimek said.

Severoceske doly reclaimed 644 hectares of land from the 1970s until 1989, but it has reclaimed 5,174 hectares since then, Pegrimek said. The company wants to restore 5,800 more hectares of land by 2060.

Mining companies from Sev.en Energy group have spent Kc3.85bn on restoring land since 1993. They have reclaimed over 5,000 hectares, Sev.en Energy spokeswoman Gabriela Sarickova Benesova said.

Reclamation of land mined by OKD black coal miner in northern Moravia cost at least Kc3.6bn in in 1991-2011, CTK learned.

Jiri Kozelouh, from Hnuti Duha (Friends of the Earth) environmental organisation, said that Czechia was facing many reclamation challenges. Coal mining needs to stop in the early 2030s at the latest because of climate change, Kozelouh said.

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