Hunedoara Energy Complex

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Hunedoara Energy Complex is an operating coal mine in Petroșani, Transylvania, Romania.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Hunedoara Energy Complex	Petroșani, Transylvania, Romania	45.436597, 23.375229 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	–	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
0	–	–	Underground	–	–	494*	2000

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
–	–	–	–	Subbituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Complexul Energetic Valea Jiului SA	Complexul Energetic Valea JiuIui SA [100%]	Romania

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September supplement.

Background

The Hunedoara Energy Complex is a network of underground coal mines and power plants in the Jiu Valley, Petroșani, Romania. Hunedoara Energy Complex was owned by Complexul Energetic Hunedoara S.A, in insolvency since 2019. (A notice on the CEH company website stated that the complex is insolvent and undergoing collections: "Company “in insolvency”, according to the civil Sentence no. 601/F dated 14.11.2019, pronounced in the file no. 5075/97/2016 ordering the opening of the general insolvency procedure against the debtor Societatea Complexul Energetic Hunedoara SA.").

In October 2023, the company transferred its assets to the Ministry of Energy. It appeared that the mining assets were subsequently transferred under the ownership of a newly created entity Complexul Energetic Valea Jiului SA, owned by the Ministry of Energy. It was anticipated that 2000 of the remaining workers will be employed by the new company and state aid will be provided.

Hunedoara Energy Complex consists of four underground mines: Lonea, Livezeni, Vulcan and Lupeni.

As of 2022, the complex was responsible for less than 1% of the country's electrical production, down from 2% previously. The complex supplies coal to the Paroseni power station. Coal was also previously fed the Mintia-Deva power station until the plant entered insolvency proceedings in 2019 and was shut down in 2021.

As of 2022, the four mines were said to be producing a combined total of 1,000-1,100 tonnes of coal per day (up from 600-700 daily tonnes), used for the operation of the Paroşeni thermal power plant. However, Euracoal's report stated that hard coal production was 0 in 2022.

In November 2016, the European Commission approved state aid to close Lonea and Lupeni coal mines in first in 2018, then in 2020 and 2021, but the deadlines were not met. The Lonea and Lupeni sections have been deemed "uncompetitive mines" and were then scheduled for permanent closure in 2023-2024. The remaining two mines are due to close by 2030-2032.

In 2023, it was reported that the closure of Lonea and Lupeni requires extensive safety work to avoid self-ignition and therefore, actions to secure the deposit will be carried out until 31 December 2024, followed by the final closure and land greening works in 2025-2026.

• Owner: Complexul Energetic Valea Jiului SA
• Parent: Ministry of Energy of Romania
• Location: Petroșani, Romania
• GPS Coordinates: 45.436597, 23.375229 (exact)
• Mine Status: Operating
• Production: 0.5 million tonnes per annum, 0.3 million tonnes (2022 estimate)
• Start Year: 2012
• Total Resource:
• Mineable Reserves:
• Coal Type: Subbituminous (Thermal)
• Mine Size:
• Mine Type: Underground
• Number of Employees: 3,025 (2020); 2,000 (end of 2023)

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Additional data

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