Vereinigtes Schleenhain Coal Mine

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Vereinigtes Schleenhain Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Groitzsch, Neukieritzsch, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Vereinigtes Schleenhain Coal Mine	Groitzsch, Neukieritzsch, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany	51.128, 12.386 (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	–	1949	2035 (planned)

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
–	7.8	2023	Surface	Open Pit	17	50*	#REF!*

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
388	2015	–	Central German	Lignite	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlengesellschaft mbH	Energetický a průmyslový holding AS [100.0%]	Czech Republic

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

Note: The asterisk (*) indicates that the value is an estimated figure based on various factors, including the company's forecasted or reported monthly or quarterly production data, etc.

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Saleable	11*	11.01	8.4	7.6	10.41	10.8*	7.8*

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

Background

The Vereinigtes Schleenhain coal mine (also known as the United Schleenhain opencast mine) is an open-cast mine operated by MIBRAG near Groitzsch and Neukieritzsch in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1995, as a result of the privatization of the opencast mines of the Central German Revier, the Schleenhain open-cast mine and the Groitzscher Dreieck and Peres opencast mines, which were suspended in 1991, were combined by MIBRAG to form the United Schleenhain open-cast mine with the three mining fields of the same name.

After extensive modernization work since 1999, the mine has been used exclusively to supply coal to the new Lippendorf power station.

According to the current planning permits, mining is to continue until 2040, but due to Germany's coal exit, will likely cease in 2038.

According to the planning approvals, it was previously expected that mining continue until 2040. After negotiations between MIBRAG and the Saxon state government, it was announced in January 2021 that MIBRAG would refrain from using the Groitzscher triangle and Pödelwitz mining areas and as a result, the opencast mine is expected to be closed by 2035 at the latest.

MIBRAG built a PV power plant with a capacity of 30 MWp on a reclaimed area of the Schleenhain mine. The construction work started in October 2022 and was finished in Q3 2023. The next PV power plant with a capacity of ca. 43 MWp will be built next to the 30 MWp project. It is planned to finish the installation in the second half of 2024. The electricity generated by both PV plants is used for own consumption.

A media source from March 2024 stated that in 2022, during the energy crisis, MIBRAG was still mining around 17 million tonnes of coal, but in 2023 it was 30% less. This is consistent with reported lignite production in Mitteldeutschland area at 17 million tonnes in 2022 and 12.3 million tonnes in 2023. Individual production of Vereinigtes Schleenhain mine in 2022 and 2023 was estimated based on its respective share in 2021.

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Additional data

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