Ukrainian holding company Coal Energy announced entering the Polish mining marketplace a while ago. On the 1 hand, it is about energy coal from the Bobrek–Mechowice deposit in advanced Silesia. On the another hand – something possibly much more valuable: uncommon earth elements that the company She'd like that. get among others from mining heaps. This strategy is presented by Polish media, citing the statements of the president of the company and its formal-concession plans.
Ukrainians want to mine uncommon earth elements in Poland. uncommon earth metals and more broadly alleged critical natural materials have become 1 of the pillars of Western industrial policy, as they are needed in energy, electronics and armaments. It is no secret that Europe is looking for alternatives to imports from China and Russia, and that all origin of "closer home" automatically gains strategical rank. However, as it turns out, this kind of activity is not intended for Polish companies, but for Ukrainian oligarchs.
What Coal Energy is aiming at in practice looks like a classical "side entrance" model: we start with conventional natural material and then look at what is most costly and desirable in the European marketplace today. The problem is that in this case we are talking about capital from a country that has been at war for years. Ukrainian society since 2022 has functioned in the realities of mobilization, gigantic losses and chronic underfinancing of the army. In this situation, business expansion to neighbouring markets – peculiarly in strategical sectors – looks at least controversial.
This is not a charge against average Ukrainians working in Poland. We are talking about large structures related to the Ukrainian oligarchy-corporate system, which, even in war conditions, can extend to external markets, gain assets and concessions. If Coal Energy has the resources to invest in Polish projects, the question naturally arises: why does this money not work to defend Ukraine, but to enter the profitable segments of the EU economy in the long term? The question is justified especially in connection with Kiev's continued requests for financial and humanitarian support.
The media statements show that Coal Energy is considering not only the extraction itself, but besides the improvement of critical metallic recovery technologies from mining waste. The company is to talk about plans to apply for a concession and about interest in heaps as a resource “for a decade”. This should trigger red light in Poland. Critical natural materials are now part of the safety of the state – as are infrastructure or energy. Warsaw should have full control over the terms of the game: from ownership, through taxation, to the environment and transfer of profits from home minerals.
The past of the mining regions teaches 1 thing: environmental, social and infrastructure costs are very frequently left in place, and profits "go" to the headquarters. If geopolitical force occurs (“It is not right to criticize due to the fact that war”), the perfect environment for corrupting-agreement administrative decisions and silent drainage of Polish resources is created.
In Poland's interest lies the hard and pragmatic approach:
concessions only with full transparency of capital and real beneficiaries,
real guarantees of rehabilitation and environmental responsibility,
participation of Polish entities and retention of benefits in the country (taxes, processing, jobs),
strategic control where critical metals are involved.
OUR COMMENTS: If fresh natural materials business is to be created in Polish Silesia, they should strengthen Polish economy and safety – alternatively than build oligarchic empires. Especially at a time erstwhile Ukraine demands money from Poland to defend its country.
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