Activities to preserve biodiversity

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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:

Nature 2000 special bird Protection areas:

„Lęgi Odrzańskie”
PLB020008

(11 km – Tailings Division, 2 km – Cedynia Wire Rod Plant, 7 km – Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery)

Nature 2000 special habitat conservation areas:

Kozioróg w Czernej
PLH020100

(2.7 km – Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery)

Lęgi Odrzańskie”
PLH020018

(11 km – Tailings Division, 2 km – Cedynia Wire Rod Plant, 7 km – Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery)

„Pątnów Legnicki”
PLH020052

(9 km – Legnica Copper Smelter and Refinery)

Nature reserves:

Buczyna Jakubowska

(within the licensed area of Polkowice-Sieroszowice Mine)

Uroczysko Obiszów

(within the licensed area of Polkowice-Sieroszowice Mine)

Żukowskie Śnieżyce

(within the licensed area of Rudna Mine)

Skarpa storczyków

(approx. 1 km – Cedynia Wire Rod Plant)

Dalkowskie jary

(6 km – Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery)

Nature and landscape conservation areas:

Grodowiec

(within the licensed area of Rudna Mine)

Guzicki Potok

(within the licensed area of Rudna Mine)

Trzebcz

(within the licensed area of Rudna Mine)

Ecological sites:

Łęgi Głogowskie

(former protection zone of the Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery)

Glinki w Lasku Złotoryjskim

(1 km – LegnicaCopper Smelter and Refinery)

Lena

(in the vicinity of areas managed by the Tailings Division)

Animate and inanimate nature monuments (all divisions).

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.

Forested areas

 

Forests have been created in the areas of former protective zones currently managed by the metallurgical facilities. Near the Legnica Copper Smelter and Refinery, forested areas cover about 385 ha, and near the Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery – 872 ha. At present, this area is a unique “ecological niche”, being a habitat to birds, small amphibians and lush vegetation. Moreover, the Tailings Division manages forests over an area of about 212 ha in the municipalities of: Lubin (approx. 58 ha), Polkowice (approx. 6 ha), Rudna (approx. 38 ha) and Warta Bolesławiecka (approx. 110 ha)

Afforestation

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.

Peregrine falcon

In 2008, the Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery recorded an unsuccessful nesting attempt of a peregrine falcon. To allow falcons to breed safely, a decision was taken to mount a breeding box on one of the smelter’s stacks. In autumn 2008, the breeding box was mounted on the stack of the Głogów II Copper Smelter and Refinery, the so-called “little clover”. The felicitous nature of this location was confirmed on 31 March 2009, when 3 peregrine falcon eggs were found in the mounted nest. Three nestlings hatched after a month. They were ringed in mid-May, and left their home for good in August.

In 2011, the Company took actions to allow the falcon family to be watched on-line. Since 2012, the life of the Głogów falcons can be viewed online on the “Sokół” Association website. Every year, the names for the birds are chosen in a contest held on the “Sokół” Association website. KGHM is a co-organizer of the contest and funds awards for the winners. In 2021, another four falcons hatched. One male and three female. Since the breeding box was mounted in the Głogów II Copper Smelter and Refinery, 40 falcons have successfully hatched, and 39 of them have been leg-banded.

Ecological site -„Łęgi Głogowskie”

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.

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