Surviving steel headframe and pithead buildings of the former KWK Jan Kanty colliery, Jaworzno, awaiting municipal heritage acquisition.
Szyb Witold I is a winding shaft of the former Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Jan Kanty (KWK Jan Kanty), a hard coal colliery situated in the Niedzieliska district of Jaworzno. The mine was established in 1920 by Jaworznickie Komunalne Kopalnie Węgla S.A., with coal extraction beginning in 1921. The Witold shaft complex was commissioned in 1973 to significantly increase the mine's extraction capacity.
KWK Jan Kanty reached its production peak in the 1970s, employing over 4,000 workers and raising some 2.5 million tonnes of coal annually. Financial difficulties mounted through the 1990s, and coal extraction ceased definitively on 31 July 2000. The mine was formally liquidated between 1994 and 2002.
The twin Witold II tower was demolished in 2020, leaving the steel headframe of Witold I as the principal surviving industrial structure on the site. As of 2024 the municipality of Jaworzno was in discussions with Spółka Restrukturyzacji Kopalń to receive the site as a donation, with plans to preserve the remaining structures as technical heritage monuments.
KWK Jan Kanty was founded in 1920 as the first major investment of Jaworznickie Komunalne Kopalnie Węgla S.A. Production commenced in 1921, with the primary shaft named Artur sunk on the Barbara mining field to exploit the Niedzieliska I and II seams. A coal sorting plant and surface infrastructure were constructed at the same time, and a railway connection to Szczakowa station was built. In 1925 the neighbouring Leopold mine was incorporated into the Jan Kanty complex.
Output grew steadily before the Second World War, reaching approximately 200,000 tonnes per year by 1939. During the German occupation the mine was renamed Dachs and from 1942 was administered by Energieversorgung Oberschlesien A.G., with forced labour used underground. In 1945 Jan Kanty was merged with the Kościuszko and Piłsudski mines to form the combined Jaworzno enterprise.
From 1953 the former Jan Kanty workings operated under the name Komuna Paryska, functioning as an independent mine from 1 January 1954. The mine returned to the Jan Kanty name in 1989. Through the 1950s and 1960s production expanded markedly; by 1957 annual output had reached one million tonnes and the workforce numbered approximately 3,900.
The mine also operated a series of opencasting and adit-worked outcrops during the 1960s, including workings named Jerzy, Marian, Artur, Zygmunt, and others. A new coal preparation plant with a fluid-stowing reservoir was built in the early 1960s. The deep-level horizon at 270 m was developed from 1965.
In 1967 a further extraction shaft named Krasicki was commissioned, bringing output to 1.7–1.8 million tonnes annually. The most significant expansion came in 1973 when the Witold shaft complex was commissioned. Szyb Witold I carries a steel headframe 37 metres to the winding wheel axis, with winding wheels of 6 metre diameter.
The shaft enabled the mine to raise up to 720 tonnes of output per day. A companion shaft, Witold II, bore a reinforced concrete tower 48 metres tall, 6 metres in diameter and 336.30 metres deep, serving the 270 m level with skip winding. Between 1975 and 1979 annual output climbed above 2 million tonnes, peaking at 2.5 million tonnes in 1979 with a workforce exceeding 4,000.
Further investment in the 1990s included a new coal washing plant commissioned in 1992 and a desulphurisation facility in 1993. However, the broader restructuring of Poland's coal industry, reduced state subsidies, and declining profitability placed the mine under mounting pressure. Formal liquidation proceedings began in 1994 and coal extraction ended on 31 July 2000.
The complete liquidation of the underground workings was carried out through to 2002. Following closure, substantial surface demolition took place, but the Witold I headframe with its winding house and the adjacent machine house — still containing its operational winding machine and drive system — along with a workshop and office building, remained standing. The reinforced concrete tower of Witold II was demolished in 2020 on the instructions of Spółka Restrukturyzacji Kopalń, at a contract cost of 4,280,000 złoty, leaving only the underground infrastructure of that shaft.
In 2024 the City of Jaworzno announced its intention to receive the remaining Witold I site buildings as a donation from Spółka Restrukturyzacji Kopalń, with plans to preserve the complex as a monument to industrial and mining heritage.