In 2024, Poland was estimated to be the world’s third-ranked producer of rhenium, accounting for 11.8% of world production, and the fifth-ranked producer of silver, accounting for 5.2% of world production. In Europe, Poland was one of the major producers of lignite (brown coal) and refined copper. Other mineral commodities produced included, among others, cadmium, cement, bituminous coal (hard coal), copper, helium, lime, nitrogen (ammonia), peat, salt, sand and gravel, selenium, and sulfur.
Mining and quarrying accounted for 1.2% of Poland’s gross domestic product (GDP); the total industrial sector (including mining and quarrying) accounted for 21.0% of the GDP. The total sales in the industrial sector were \$604.6 billion. Of this amount, mining and quarrying accounted for 3.4%, or about \$22.7 billion (only bituminous coal and lignite mining accounted for 1.3%, or \$7.9 billion in sales). Mining activities in Poland are regulated primarily by the Geological and Mining Law (GML) of June 9, 2011 (the Act 2011), which came into force on January 1, 2012. On March 1, 2022, the Council of Ministers adopted the National Raw Materials Policy to 2050, which aims to ensure Poland’s resource security in the short- and long-term by facilitating access to necessary raw materials, domestic and (or) imported. On May 23, 2024, the European Union (EU) Critical Raw Materials Act came into force, intending to secure the supply of critical raw materials for the EU market and reduce the EU’s dependency on imports. The mineral industry in Poland was composed mostly of privately owned companies. The Government owned a small number of mineral producers, including some coal companies, and was also a shareholder in, among others, KGHM Polska Miedz S.A. and ORLEN S.A.
