A press conference on opening a new deposit took place on 14 May in “Czatkowice” limestone pit in Krzeszowice. The new investment has been the most important moment in the history of the pit for several years.

It ensures safe functioning of the pit for decades. The conference was attended by the representatives of the board of the pit – Sławomir Kosiba, the president, and Andrzej Szymkiewicz, the vice-president, as well as Prof. Zbigniew Kasztelewicz, the head of Open-Cast Mining Faculty at AGH University of Science and Technology. During his presentation Mr. Kosiba was talking about main purposes and consequences of the new investment.

- By opening a new deposit we strengthen our position on the market of suppliers of desulphurizing agents in Poland – said Mr. Kosiba. - Today we are the leader in Poland and, I can even say, in this part of Europe.

The president of the company stressed that in spite of the fact that efforts to get a license to open a new deposit took a few years, it was one of the shortest processes in situations like this.

Mr. Andrzej Szymkiewicz, the vice-president of the company, was speaking about technical aspects of the new deposit and referred to ecological aspects of this new investment. He also outlined the coming stages of exploitation of the deposit informing us about the plans for the future. He emphasised that while planning extraction works, the company took care of natural environment by creating new habitats for protected animals and programmes of moving plants.

- We can be proud of the fact that our pit is environmentally friendly. Not a single gram of stone extracted in the deposit is wasted – stressed Andrzej Szymkiewicz. The vice-president was also speaking about the direction and plan of rehabilitation of the pit site. The rehabilitation will go into “woods direction”.

Prof. Kasztelewicz, on the other hand, emphasised, among others, a good cooperation of the pit with local institutions. - Cooperation means success – he said. - The pit in Czatkowice is a great example of what cooperation with local institutions (local authorities, academic institutions and centres involved in environmental protection) should be like.  

The speakers also confirmed the figures concerning the pit. “Czatkowice” extract 2.2 million tons of limestone every year. A third of it goes to production of exhaust fume desulphurization agents in the energy industry, which allows for removing 140 million m3 of sulphur dioxide from the atmosphere during the year.