Warsaw: SiltaNews – News Desk
Experts suggest the find could generate billions in profits, create thousands of jobs, and position Poland as one of Europe’s top copper producers, with investors from the U.S. and Canada already pouring 500 million zloty (€118 million) into exploration.
The deposits potentially exceed 165 million tons, with up to 98 million tons viable for mining, according to the professional services firm EY (previously known as Ernst & Young). Energy news website Energetyka24 reported the find could boost Poland’s annual copper output from 400,000 tons to over one million tons, which would make it Europe’s leading producer.
“This is the largest copper discovery in Europe since the 1950s and one of the largest in the world. These resources rank among the two richest undeveloped projects in terms of metal content, which makes them truly exceptional,” said Jordan Pandoff of Lumina Metals, one of the two foreign investors.
“Detailed data on the planned production have not yet been disclosed, but we can already say that this will be one of the largest copper mines in Europe – with an estimated output consisting of roughly 70% copper and 30% silver,” he added.
Polish mining giant KGHM, a global leader in copper production, has responded cautiously to the reports, telling journalists that it was “conducting exploratory and research work, which in the future will enable the company to potentially exploit deposits located north of the Oder River. Undoubtedly, the deposits held by Poland allow for an increase in annual copper production,” it added.
The company also said that “verified information about domestic copper resource deposits can be provided by the Polish Geological Institute.” According to documents from the institute, the deposits have been included in the official national resource balance, which, although confirming the geological scale of the discoveries, does not confirm the specific figure given by Lumina Metals.