“Dębieńsko” deposit and JSW. Germany “has priority” for Polish coal? Triple manipulation

In the first days of January, information appeared on social media that the German company had been given priority to extract coal from the Dębieńsko deposit located in the town of Czerwionka-Leszczyny in the Silesian Voivodeship. “The Polish giant must give way to the Germans. They are first in line for the Polish coal deposit!!!” – wrote on January 8, 2025 on X, Paweł Usiadek, a Confederation politician and former candidate of this party in the parliamentary elections. “An absurd situation related to Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa. The Polish giant is implementing a recovery plan while waiting for a concession for the Dębieńsko deposit, where Germany has priority. (…) In a normal country, it would be obvious to me that Germany will not receive a concession for the deposit in which the interested party is a Polish entity, controlled by the State Treasury,” he added.

He published a video on this topic on January 14, for example on Instagram publicist Witold Gadowski. In the recording he says: “Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa wants to exploit the Dębieńsko coking coal deposit located in Poland. It turns out that it cannot, because the priority to this deposit is given to a German company, or rather a conglomerate of German coal companies SCIGC. Germany has priority to mine coal in Poland. What don't you understand?” The video was liked by almost 6,000 people. people.

MP Marek Jakubiak, who is running for president, wrote on January 26 on the website The post generated over 35,000 views. views. “Right lawyers should now look for legal grounds to invalidate this and other anti-Polish decisions of the regime after it is removed from power”; “Unfortunately, becoming a German farmhand is the peak of ambition of a large part of Polish society. Every election brings consequences,” commented some Internet users. Others, however, pointed out that it was not exactly as the MP wrote.

All this information – interestingly, already explained in several articles – came mainly from published online Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa's (JSW) response to a question from one of the shareholders. The company informed him that “it has been expressing interest in the industrial development of the Dębieńsko deposit for several years,” but “currently, administrative proceedings are underway at the Ministry of Climate and Environment to grant a research license to SCIGC – Silesian Coal International Group of Companies SA, which prevents JSW from submitting an application.” “.

On this basis, a manipulative message was created about the “priority of Germans to extract Polish coal.”

First of all, calling SCIGC a “German company” or “Germany” is a far-reaching simplification – but catchy in public communication.

According to the National Court Register, SCIGC registered in Katowice is a subsidiary of the German HMS Bergbau AG. Portal slaskibiznes.pl he wrote about her as a “German-American-Swiss company” because the company has capital from these three countries. The real beneficiary of SCIGC is a German living in Switzerland, and the president since 2018 is a Pole – Krzysztof Wilgus.

JSW's response to the shareholder's questions shows that SCIGC has submitted an application to the Ministry of Climate and Environment for a research license for the “Dębieńsko 1” coking coal deposit. It is worth emphasizing here: A research license, or a license for the exploration and identification of deposits, is different from a license for the exploitation of a deposit.. It authorizes the entity to assess how many hydrocarbons (e.g. hard coal) are in a given deposit, what their quality is and whether any extraction will be profitable. However, the fact that a given company has received a research license does not mean that it will also receive a mining license. In such a situation, a new procedure is announced, in which new entities may participate – including those that have not previously explored the deposit. Moreover, the research documentation, in accordance with Polish law, is transferred free of charge to the State Treasury.

Did a Polish State Treasury company have to give way to a foreign company because that company “had priority” in the procedure for a research license? Well, from the Ministry of Climate issued on January 22, 2025 message clearly it is not.

Contrary to suggestions in the widespread media that the current government was behind the story regarding the Dębieńsko deposit, this is a matter from the times of the United Right government. The ministry explained that SCIGC submitted an application to explore the Dębieńsko deposit in December 2022. Therefore – in accordance with Act geological and mining law – the Ministry of Climate and Environment had to publicly announce that it had received such an application and other interested entities could also submit their applications for 90 days.

The ministry issued such an announcement in March 2023, and now two months later – in May 2023 – Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa submitted its application for a research license in Dębieńsk. IN message the climate ministry explained that this application was rejected because it “covered a study area that was not identical to the area coordinates given in the announcement.” As a result, the only application to be considered was the one submitted by SCIGC.

Ultimately, the proceedings ended unfavorably for SCIGC as well. In March 2024 – after the change of government – the Ministry of Climate refused to issue a research license to a foreign company. The company appealed against this decision and – as we read in the ministry's statement – currently the appeal proceedings in the second instance are “at the final stage”. However, due to these ongoing proceedings, JSW cannot submit a new application. In a message sent to Konkret24, the spokesman for the Polish company, Tomasz Siemieniec, confirms: “In the event of a negative decision (…), JSW will submit an application to the Ministry of Climate and Environment for a license to explore part of the 'Dębieńsko 1' hard coal and methane deposit.”

Despite these extensive explanations by both the Ministry of Climate and JSW, you can still find entries on the Internet whose authors – including politicians – repeat the manipulative message about the Polish coal deposit given to Germany. For example, the above-mentioned post by MP Marek Jakubiak from the Free Republicans club.

So let's sum up: the proceedings regarding the Dębieńsko deposit were conducted in accordance with the law. After the foreign company submitted the application, the ministry allowed other entities to submit applications – which was used by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa. However, the proceedings regarding this application were discontinued because the document contained errors. It had nothing to do with the “priority of the German company”. Moreover, SCIGC's application was also rejected, and the company initiated appeal proceedings, which are still ongoing today. And all the proposals discussed concerned the exploration of the deposit in Dębieńsk, not its exploitation.

The Ministry of Climate informs that “neither JSW nor SCIGC has yet submitted an application for a license to extract minerals from the 'Dębieńsko 1' hard coal deposit.”

After the statement of the Ministry of Climate was published, the management board of Silesian Coal International Group of Companies sent a press release to the media. He said, among other things, that after the exploration of the deposit, both JSW and SCIGC “plan to apply for separate mining concessions, each in its own 'Dębieńsko 1' area.” In correspondence with JSW, the SCIGC management also proposed cooperation in exploring the deposit, designing its exploitation and implementing the mining project. According to the foreign company, “this offer has met the interest of JSW and is the subject of ongoing arrangements between the companies.”

“The Silesian Coal International Group of Companies project does not compete with the JSW project. Thanks to the cooperation between the entities, it is possible to gain access to the deposit of interest in the future, incurring significantly lower investment costs. This is our offer to JSW,” said the SCIGC management board.