Welzow-Süd Coal Mine

This article is part of the Global Coal Mine Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Download full dataset

Report an error

Sub-articles:

Global coal mines Coal mines in China Coal mines in India Coal mines in the United States Coal mines in Australia Coal mines in Russia Coal mines in Indonesia

Related-articles:

Largest coal mines in the world Coal mine impacts from Covid-19 Environmental issues of coal Coal mining Coal reserves Coal terminals

Welzow-Süd Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Welzow, Brandenburg, Germany.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Welzow-Süd Coal Mine	Welzow, Brandenburg, Germany	51.599444, 14.278889 (exact)

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

Loading map...

{"type":"SATELLITE","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"500px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":16,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":51.599444,"lon":14.278889,"icon":"","inlineLabel":"Operating Mine\n"}]}

Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1959	2038 (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
–	13.5	2023	Surface	Open Pit	108	120	#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
–	–	–	–	Lignite	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG	Energetický a průmyslový holding AS [50.0%]; PPF Investments Ltd [50.0%]	Czech Republic

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

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Saleable	22.1	22.8	17.4	15.8	16.3	10.4	13.5

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 Welzow-Süd coal mine is an open-cast mine near Wezlow, Brandenburg, Germany. The first Lusatian seam in the Welzow area was mined as early as the 19th century, usually in small pits. The Clara I Welzow mine began lignite mining on the Welzower plateau in 1866. In 1957, the first clearing and grading work began for today's open-cast mine.

In August 2020, Germany passed a coal phaseout act which aims to gradually reduce and eventually end the use of coal-powered energy in the country by 2038. According to the Oeko-Institut, a nonprofit environmental research institute, the shutdown of the Welzow-Süd open-cast mine is planned for 2031. However, due to Russia's war in Ukraine, Germany is considering delaying the closure of some lignite power plants and is also considering bringing some recently closed lignite plants back online.

As per the company's 2023 ESG report, phasing out coal was still planned for 2038. In June 2024, Lausitz Energie Bergbau received the green light for up to 1.75 billion euros in state support to compensate for the implementation of the “early” phase-out of coal-fired power production in eastern Germany. Following a deal between the European Commission and the German government, Leag can receive the funds to finance the transition from the fossil fuel and help create new jobs in the Lusatia region after the coal exit’s definitive end date in 2038. LEAG's lignite coal mines will be among the last still operating in Germany.

Opposition

On May 13, 2016, more than 1,600 people occupied the open-cast mining site under the motto "End of the terrain" and blocked coal production.

In June 223, several hundred people demonstrated at the Welzone mine calling for the call phase-out by 2030.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.