Poland's Bielszowice mine has lifted its final coal batch, ending a 122-year extraction run at the country's oldest active coal mine and launching a three-year decommissioning process, according to TVP World, Poland's national public international broadcaster.

Constructed between 1896 and 1904, the mine was originally scheduled to shut down in 2023. Yet the energy crisis stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict prolonged its operation until 2026.

Spanning the municipalities of Ruda Slaska, Zabrze and Mikolow, the mine employed roughly 1,650 staff. State mining giant PGG stated no workers will be made redundant due to the closure. Around 250 personnel have already been redeployed to other group mines, with hundreds more set to transfer in the coming months.

"Most importantly, employees are not left alone," PGG CEO Lukasz Deja commented. "Each employee has been offered a job at Polska Grupa Gornicza (Poland's largest state coal producer)."

Some 410 workers will remain on-site to oversee decommissioning works, while the rest will take early retirement, severance packages or restructuring leave.

Local authorities are already drawing up redevelopment blueprints to repurpose the former mine land for industrial and service industries.

The mine's shutdown fuels nationwide debate over coal's long-term role in Poland. Mine decommissioning remains a politically and socially charged topic in the country, home to around 70,000 miners with deep historical ties to the sector. Coal powered Poland's industrialization and energy security for generations.

A 2021 accord signed by the former government, mining operators and trade unions commits Poland to phase out hard coal extraction by 2049. Critics argue the timeline is too slow, citing mounting environmental damage and surging economic costs tied to coal reliance.

Domestic coal output slumped to 44 million tonnes in 2024, the lowest reading since 1949, while the sector posted a record 30-year net loss of 13.74 billion zloty ($3.65 billion).

State subsidies for coal mining hit 9 billion zloty in the year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly warned that costly coal dependency erodes Poland's overall economic competitiveness.

Under the most ambitious pathway laid out in Poland's draft updated National Energy and Climate Plan, coal-fired power generation could be phased out as early as 2040.