Flotation waste, a by-product of copper mining, is stored and deposited in the Żelazny Most tailings storage facility. The facility has operated since 1977, covers an area of 1 580 hectares, and is the biggest such facility of this type in Europe.
Due to the necessity of depositing greater and greater quantities of waste, it is necessary to further expand the facility, by 609 hectares. This will allow the Company’s operations in Poland to continue for decades to come. Such a large investment cannot be developed without the consent of the local communities. As a result of meetings held with them as well as around 20 consulting sessions, an agreement was reached which allows the Company to develop Żelazny Most, enabling the safe, stable functioning of the facility over the long term.
The Agreement provides for a wide spectrum of obligations, covering subjects of mutual importance for all of the communities covered by the Agreement, as well as specific ones for given locations. An interdisciplinary team of KGHM employees is engaged in carrying out these obligations.
Process of dialogue during the course of the Żelazny Most tailings storage facility expansion project
Cooperation in the dialogue process, in numbers
- 1 a coherent path of unification of the mines’ operating procedures respecting mining damage was proposed
- 3 quarterly meetings on „How to get a job”
- 5 towns covered by the Agreement
- 8 number of people employed by KGHM in 2014 from the towns covered by the Agreement
- 10 published issues of the ”Po sąsiedzku” (“Neighbours”) newspaper
- Around 20 meetings with communities to discuss the planned development of Żelazny Most
- 58 number of children sent to a winter holiday camp
- 77 number of wells, plus two surface water outlets, tested within the scope of water checks
- 91 number of people medically examined as a part of the „white Saturdays” initiative
- 141 number of emergency shelters purchased for residents (86 delivered by the end of April)
- 198 thousand PLN spent supporting the KGHM Polish Copper Foundation for the Żelazny Most region in the year 2014
- 300 meters of pipeline exchanged in total in 2014 (Tarnówka and Dąbrowy regions)