Activities to preserve biodiversity

KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. takes active measures to preserve and–where it is not possible–to compensate for lost biodiversity, and to ensure responsible management of our land and forests.

KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. does not operate in, or in the direct vicinity of, areas of outstanding natural heritage (defined as national parks, nature reserves or Nature 2000 areas). Areas of high natural habitat or landscape value, covered by various forms of protection schemes, are located from a few to over a dozen kilometres away from the Company’s operating sites, amongst which it is worth noting the following:

All investment projects executed by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. which require an environmental impact assessment, pursuant to the Act of 3 October 2008 on the availability of information about the environment and its protection, participation of the public in environmental protection and on environmental impact assessments (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2021, item 247), include detailed documents which describe the impact of the project on the natural environment. This work involves experts from many fields (including: ornithology, zoology, botany), who highlight potential risks and present recommendations for actions ensuring the maximum extent of mitigation of the impact of a given project.

KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. actively supports afforestation efforts in the areas in which conducts its activities.

In 2021, 29,800 trees were planted at the Legnica Copper Smelter and Refinery, including:

• European beech: 15,053 trees
• English oak: 7,002 trees
• European hornbeam: 3,600 trees
• Tilia cordata: 1,615 trees

In 2021, the following were planted at the Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery:

• a total of 248 trees, 2,120 bushes were planted on industrial areas as replacement plants (replacing trees that had been removed, mainly cottonwood) and as part of the green areas revitalization project,
• 550 “old varieties” of fruit trees were planted in the forest area located within the boundaries of the ecological site near Wróblin Głogowski, and 700 creeping dogwood shrubs were planted on the embankment near the access road towards Gate 3

At the TSF, in 2021 trees were planted on forest and nonforest land. The trees were planted on forest land in the following forest districts:

•  Lubin Forest District: 70.09 ha (300,000 beech seedlings)
• Przemków Forest District: 39.8 ha (62,050 beech seedlings and 92,470 spruce seedlings)
• Wołów Forest District: 10.43 ha (52,150 beech seedlings)

The following were planted at the Żelazny Most Tailings Storage Facility:

• Tilia cordata: 115 trees
• European horse-chestnut: 3 trees
• Norway maple: 14 trees
• Silver birch: 12 trees
• Korean fir: 1 tree
• Common juniper: 1 tree

KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. additionally takes part in the so-called “Forest Carbon Farms” project, developed and conducted by the General Directorate of The State Forests with the idea of rebuilding forests and afforesting new areas in order to reduce the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through increase of CO₂ absorption by forest complexes.

On 28 October 2005, at the request of the Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery, the Lower Silesia Voivode formally established the “Łęgi Głogowskie” ecological site, to protect the important natural features of, among others, the old Odra riverbed, vegetation clusters, from water plants and reedbeds to rich deciduous forests with a multitude of protected flora and fauna species. The site covers a terrace area of 605.6 ha between the Odra river’s embankments, and stretches over land to which KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. holds a legal title.

Every year, the Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery undertakes treatment measures to maintain the area, restore habitats and protect the species living in the “Łęgi Głogowskie” ecological site. In 2021, these measures included: mowing meadows in a way that leaves patches of lateripening vegetation (Cnidion dubii communities – celery meadows) and mowing reed rushes in meadow habitats, removing self-seeding trees and shrubs growing expansively into valuable tree and meadow habitats, planting shrubs of native species compatible with the forest habitat type in places where plantations of foreign trees have been removed, setting up shelters for birds, hanging day shelters for bats and nesting boxes for birds, constructing clay and wooded structures, i.e. substitute habitats for insects nesting in clay, cleaning works – systematic removal of illegal waste by third parties.