In Poland, there is a growing awareness of the need to change the sources of electricity and heat. An expression of this is the adoption of the document entitled Poland’s Energy Policy until 2040 (PEP 2040) in February 2020 by the Council of Ministers. The goal of the Polish Energy Policy until 2040 is “energy security – ensuring the competitiveness of the economy, energy efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of the energy sector – taking into account the optimal use of own energy resources”. In PEP 2040, the previous assumptions of the state’s long-term energy policy were amended and an increase in the use of low- or non-emission sources was declared. In addition, the energy policy guidelines contain forecasts for the production of steam coal and the demand for this raw material. Based on the provisions of the document, as well as forecasts of the coal-production volume prepared by the authors and the assessments of experts in the fields related to energy and mining, the article contains considerations on the validity of the developed forecasts together with the determination of the production capacity of domestic mining enterprises in terms of covering the demand for steam coal used for the production of electricity and heat. It is planned, inter alia, that blocks of coal-fired power plants will be decommissioned and, in their place, there is to be the expansion of solar and wind energy and the commissioning of the first blocks of a nuclear power plant. Such activities, which cause a decrease in the demand for coal, are also related to the plans of changes in the functioning of mining enterprises – there will be successive closures of individual mines and mining plants.

In Polish mining enterprises, mining exploitation processes are often carried out in much more difficult geological and mining conditions. At the same time, underground operation must be carried out in accordance with the legal requirements concerning work safety and public safety. In these circumstances, taking into account the fact that hard coal mining is by nature a less competitive industry, it should be stated that in Poland managing a mining enterprise is a real challenge. Additionally, in the situation of the functioning of mining enterprises in the conditions of the market economy and constant changes in the economic situation for coal, both on the domestic and foreign markets, the degree of management difficulties, including planning and decision making, is constantly increasing. This is a result of not only the specificity of mining production processes, but also the need to conduct effective economic activity in a constantly and dynamically changing environment. During the implementation of changes in a mining enterprise, the variety of conditions often increases difficulties in the change forecasting system and generates a high risk of implementing adaptive measures. The changes may have a different scope – from gradual, aimed at improving the activities carried out or slowly adapting to changes in the environment, through changes in implemented processes, to radical changes in functioning, often associated with organizational changes.This article aims to present the method of managing a mining enterprise, Poland Grupa Górnicza SA, established during the period of significant changes that took place at that time, both in the company itself and in the hard coal mining industry.

A significant problem with the effective functioning of the hard-coal mining industry, especially in relation to mining enterprises and mines located in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, are the high costs of mining. This is due to many reasons, among which, an important aspect is the ineffective use of the working time of mining faces. The unsatisfactory use of working time caused by unplanned shutdowns of mining faces is a significant reason for the fact that the use of the production potential of the expensive, modern mechanized systems built in them, with the production capacity of around 1,000–1,500 tons per hour, is relatively small – the average daily volume of mining from a longwall working is most often around 3,000 tonnes or even slightly less. A significant reason for this is the occurrence of a large number of interruptions in the continuity of their work, which is mainly caused by equipment failures, the impact of unfavorable geological and mining conditions or technological shutdowns.
The article deals with the problem of the unsatisfactory level of the effective use of working time in mining faces (longwalls) in Polish hard-coal mines. The main reason for this is the occurrence of a large number of unplanned stops and interruptions, sometimes lasting several days. Their elimination or at least reduction would significantly contribute to the improvement of the existing situation. The condition for this, however, is reliable analyses aimed at detailed the identification of their causes. It was proposed to use three methods – the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the development of the Pareto-Lorenz diagram and the 5 Whys method. Examples of their practical application are also presented.