PARTNERSHIP TEXT

At 1348 meters, the deepest mining shaft in Poland – KGHM Polska Miedź's GG-1 shaft in Kwielice – represents one of the most significant investments in the history of the copper giant and is the largest underground project in the non-ferrous metals industry in Europe. In June, a crucial milestone for this project was achieved with the connection of the shaft to the Rudna Mining Plant.

The technical connection, achieved by excavating workings from the side of the "Rudna" Mining Plant to shaft GG-1, was completed on June 14th of this year. Work is currently underway to supply new volumes of fresh air to the mining excavations. This will significantly improve underground working conditions.

The shaft is ready for the installation of reinforcement and essential equipment for its operational phase. A three-meter layer of concrete has been poured at the bottom. The two primary parameters of shaft GG-1 are its depth of 1348 meters and a clear internal diameter of 7.5 meters. This is an intake shaft that will be used for transporting people and materials.

"KGHM is the jewel in the crown, and shaft GG-1 is an incredible undertaking that will impact miner safety. I am full of admiration for everyone who has undertaken this project. Everything is being done so that miners can work in the best possible conditions. Shaft GG-1 is also a business, industrial, and economic project. These are copper deposits that can be extracted for decades to come," said Elżbieta Witek, Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland.

"Shaft GG-1 is a strategic investment for KGHM. It will enable the supply of air that will allow us to exploit the Głogów Głęboki-Przemysłowy deposit at depths previously inaccessible to us. We are a global company, but domestic production is of fundamental importance to the company. The completed shaft primarily ensures safety, but also more efficient work for miners," stated Tomasz Zdzikot, CEO of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., during a press conference.

Shaft GG-1 is of fundamental importance for the development of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. It will allow access to new areas of the copper deposit and extend the operational life of the Polkowice-Sieroszowice and Rudna mines. The investment will also improve miners' ventilation and air conditioning conditions and shorten travel routes for crews to the excavations.

The Shaft in Numbers

The GG-1 shaft complex is being built as part of the Deposit Access Program, managed by the Mining Structure Development Department at KGHM headquarters. The work was carried out by PeBeKa, a company within the KGHM Capital Group. Shaft GG-1 is one of the most important facilities that will serve to access the Głogów Głęboki-Przemysłowy Mining Area.

Estimated industrial copper ore resources amount to nearly 265 million tons, with an average copper content of 2.40 percent. This represents approximately 25 percent of the copper resources and over 30 percent of the silver resources within all of KGHM's concession areas in Poland. Access to these resources will ensure the continuity of copper ore extraction for many years to come.

According to investment plans for the years 2028-35, the period of most intensive exploitation activities, production from the Głogów Głęboki-Przemysłowy area is projected to be 10-11 million tons of ore annually, yielding approximately 200-220 thousand tons of electrolytic copper per year.

Investment History

The construction of shaft GG-1 began in 2010. Two years later, the shaft tower began to take shape; it is one of the tallest built by KGHM to date, standing 45.5 meters high and weighing 1100 tons. The equipment used for sinking the shaft includes a complex hoisting system with over a dozen steel ropes, each over 1500 meters long, with some weighing up to 20 tons.

In 2013, one of the key stages of construction commenced: freezing the rock mass prior to sinking the shaft. Brine was circulated through 40 freezing boreholes. The first bucket of excavated material was brought up from GG-1 on December 11th. A year later, specialists reached solid rock layers at a depth of 393 meters. At this point, the shaft sinking method changed from mechanical rock excavation to the blasting method.

First Excavated Material from Shaft GG-1

For the lining of the first section of GG-1, PeBeKa workers used 466 cast-iron rings to protect the shaft from water ingress from the Tertiary and Triassic layers. To comprehensively protect GG-1 from water inflow, a modern, so-called cascading drainage system was installed in the shaft. In subsequent years, as work progressed and the shaft was deepened, further elements of the drainage system were added. In total, eight pumping stations were installed to cascade water from the bottom of the shaft to the surface.

This year, March also marks the 60th anniversary of the extraction of the first bucket of copper ore in the Copper Belt. This occurred on March 20, 1963, in shaft L-III, belonging to the Lubin mine. One of the pioneers of Polish Copper, the late Jan Urlich, recalled, "among the excavated material, we noticed a large chunk of dolomite with visible large veins of copper sulfides. The joy was immense. I thought: we've finally reached the deposit.".

Shaft GG-1 is the company's thirty-first shaft in the Copper Belt. Preparatory work has also begun for the construction of another important facility under the Deposit Access Program in the Głogów Głęboki-Przemysłowy and Gaworzyce mining areas. Shaft GG-2, located in the Żukowice municipality, will serve as a personnel and materials shaft.