Determinants of Efficiency in Hard Coal Mines in Poland in the Current Market and Geological-Mining Conditions

Abstract

The main objective of the paper is to perform a comparative analysis of mining effectiveness in the selected hard coal mines in the Upper-Silesian Coal Basin (GZW) as well as to identify the key determinants of effectiveness in the context of current market and geological-mining conditions. The effectiveness assessment was conducted in years 2005–2015 in four selected GZW mines, using gross margin on sales and descriptive characteristics of geological-mining conditions. In result of the research conducted it may be stated that effectiveness in the examined mines, in the cost side, mostly depends on production cost flexibility and partly on geological-mining conditions, in turn in the revenue side, it is shaped by market price and excavation volume.