Speaking at an energy conference in Prague in March 2008 Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said there were no signs that the country’s ecological mining limits, first introduced in the early 1990s to protect villages in the north of the country, would be lifted. The effect of the limits is to prevent the mining of around 1bn tonnes worth of lignite coal reserves in the area. Topolanek’s government includes the Green Party as a junior coalition member. The Czech Republic is currently Europe’s second largest net electricity exporter. CEZ, the country’s top power utility, had been looking for improved supplies of coal to its thermal power plants. Coal-fired plants make up around two-thirds of its total output. However Topolanek said that the ecological mining limits would be kept in place, meaning that the current surplus of energy production over domestic consumption would be reduced over time faster than would otherwise be the case.

The Czech Republic is an important producer of heavy industry and energy-based minerals in the region.

Steel makes up over 80% of the combined Czech metals and mineral industry that was valued at an estimated US$7.7bn in 2005. And with the only operating uranium mine in the European Union, the republic is currently ranked seventh worldwide in uranium production. Coal is another important mineral commodity, currently fulfilling a bulk of the nation’s energy needs.

Brown and lignite varieties dominate the Czech coal segment, with a combined production of nearly 48mn tonnes in 2005. Also, as a result of growing global demand and a spurt in international prices, it has been decided to continue uranium mining in the republic despite earlier plans to stop production by 2008.

However, the size of the Czech mining industry is comparatively small by global standards and foreign investment is limited. Coal and uranium have seen some action with the presence of a few multinational miners. When compared to the communist days that mandated mineral self-sufficiency, the mining industry’s contribution to the economy has significantly reduced.

Mining legislation in the republic categorises nationally important minerals as ‘reserved’ with all others classified as ‘unreserved’. Recent de-nationalisation of a few mining assets resulted in worker lay-offs making privatisation a dominant political issue in the nation. Other than this, the Czech Republic has incorporated several Western socio-economic principles resulting from its membership of the EU and the OECD. This is also true in the case of its adoption of environmental safeguards.

Industry Forecast BMI forecasts that the Czech mining industry will shrink at an average of 1.0% annually during 2008- 2012. The forecast has factored in an evident fall in output of all major commodities, including coal, gold and uranium. The industry value is likely to be around US$2.3bn in 2012.