The Czech Republic is finally saying goodbye to mining. The last mine will be closed on Saturday
This event has not only an economic but also historical dimension. The Ostrava region, once called the “steel heart of the country”, has lived on coal and metallurgy for over 200 years. Today, however, as both trade unionists and the company's management admit, further mining is no longer profitable.
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— Declining demand for fossil fuels and low coal prices make exploitation unsustainable – Stefan Pinter, head of the trade union at the CSM mine, tells AFP. In his opinion, an additional factor is the EU's climate policy, which forces a move away from high-emission energy sources.
Energy transformation in the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, like other European Union countries, has been consistently withdrawing from investments in fossil fuels. In 2025, as much as 42 percent electricity in the country came from nuclear power plants, and 32 percent from carbon. Renewable sources still lag behind, but their share is expected to grow. Coal-fired power plants have virtually disappeared – the last one closed last year.
— There is no one to supply coal in the Czech Republic – admits OKD spokeswoman Barbora Cerna Dvorakova, quoted by AFP. — Raw material prices do not cover extraction costs, and demand has dropped dramatically.
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Social costs of moving away from coal. Environmentalists triumph
OKD, employing 2.3 thousand so far. people, will reduce the staff to less than 700 employees. This is a serious challenge for the Karvin County, where unemployment already reaches almost 10 percent. Although some miners will retire soon, the rest will have to look for new employment in a region that has been struggling with restructuring for years.
Hard coal production in the Czech Republic fell from 35 million tonnes in 1989 to just 1.2 million tonnes last year.
Environmentalists welcomed the decision to close the mine. “The end of coal is finally on the horizon,” says Jaroslav Bican from Greenpeace, quoted by AFP. The Czech Republic plans to completely end coal mining by 2030, when the last lignite mine is also to be closed. For the country, it is a step towards a cleaner, more sustainable future — although not without painful social costs.
