Economic and social aspects of restructuring Polish coal mining: Focusing on Poland and the EU

Abstract

The current policies of both the EU and the Polish government, as far as developing a strategy of energy security is concerned, focus on searching for methods of diversification of independent energy sources. At the same time, the world faces a challenge of providing sustainable development. Eurostat data from 2013 clearly indicate that EU countries are dependent on energy and its resources are imported at a rate of up to 53,2%. However, Poland does not rate unsatisfactorily, and with a dependency level of 25,8%, is among the least dependent countries.This independence is guaranteed by black and brown coal deposits. In such a political environment, the Polish hard-coal mining industry needs to create a new policy of restructuring within the industry and to aid further development. The present article is an answer to the search for methods of forecasting mining production taking into account both the social and economic aspects of Polish mines. Therefore, this paper presents two elements of rationalisation in terms of the production efficiency of mining companies – human resources capital and the volume of black coal sales. The applied forecasting methods may help/determine the future number of employees working underground in Polish mining companies, on the basis of the proposed forecasting methods of the sale of black coal. On the basis of the presented research, the Authors wish to draw attention to the search for restructuring solutions in Polish coal mining companies, in areas other than human capital.