Active coking coal mine in the Jastrzębie-Zdrój coalfield, formed by successive mergers of the historic Borynia and Zofiówka collieries within Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa.
Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego "Borynia-Zofiówka" (KWK "Borynia-Zofiówka") is a coking coal mine in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Silesia. It was formed on 1 January 2011 when Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa (JSW) merged the adjacent KWK "Borynia" and KWK "Zofiówka" into a single combined entity. Both predecessor mines had been constructed in the early 1960s and inaugurated in the same era: KWK "Zofiówka" was built between 1961 and 1969 and officially opened on 4 December 1969, while KWK "Borynia" was constructed between 1962 and 1971 and inaugurated on 4 December 1971.
Both joined JSW on 1 April 1993. The Zofiówka section carries particular historical significance as the site where the Porozumienie Jastrzębskie (Jastrzębie Agreement) was signed on 3 September 1980, a pivotal moment in Polish labour history. KWK "Borynia-Zofiówka" subsequently underwent further mergers and name changes; from 1 January 2023 the mine was known as KWK "Borynia-Zofiówka-Bzie" following the incorporation of the Bzie section.
Both sections continue to produce high-quality hard coking coal of types 35.1, 35.2A, and 35.2B.
The Jastrzębie coalfield, of which KWK "Borynia-Zofiówka" forms part, was brought into modern development from the mid-1950s when Polish state planning identified the area's rich coking coal deposits as a priority. The histories of the two constituent predecessor mines run in parallel across the 1960s and 1970s.
KWK "Zofiówka" traces its origins to reconnaissance work that began in 1951 on the commission of the Rybnickie Zjednoczenie Węglowe, covering an area of 38 km² around Jastrzębie. Six preliminary design concepts were prepared before the final version was adopted, and the location of the mine was changed three times; ultimately the site was fixed at the workers' settlement of Dębina in Jastrzębie Górne, whereas the mine's name came from an earlier planned location near the Zofiówka railway station and agricultural settlement. On 1 January 1961 construction of KWK "Zofiówka" formally began. Shaft sinking proceeded under difficult conditions, with the ground freezing method applied to depths exceeding 400 metres. From 16 November 1962 the construction enterprise was jointly managed under the directorate of KWK "Zofiówka-Borynia-Pniówek" w budowie in Jastrzębie Górne. KWK "Zofiówka" was built between 1962 and 1969, operating as a single-level mine with a working level at 705 m and a target output of 12,000 tonnes per day. The mine was officially handed over to operation on 4 December 1969, with initial daily output of 206 tonnes and a workforce of 413. By the end of 1969, 6,615 tonnes of coal had been extracted and 1,478 metres of roadways driven. In 1970 the mine received its second mechanical coal preparation plant.
On 5 November 1974, the mine's name was changed from KWK "Zofiówka" to KWK "Manifest Lipcowy." In August 1980, a strike broke out at KWK "Manifest Lipcowy" and a Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy (Inter-Works Strike Committee) was formed. The strike rapidly spread to other mines and enterprises across Silesia, becoming a general mining strike. On 3 September 1980, the Porozumienie Jastrzębskie was signed at the mine between the MKS and a government commission. This agreement, the third of the 1980 summer agreements following Gdańsk and Szczecin, supported all 21 Gdańsk demands, provided for free Saturdays across Poland, and secured a range of miners' pay and conditions improvements. In 1988 a further 17-day strike took place at the mine; its outcome included the inclusion of mining issues in the agenda of the Round Table negotiations. On 2 September 1990, the original name "Zofiówka" was restored. On 1 April 1993 the mine became a unit of the newly formed Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. In August 2009, the first fully automated plough longwall in Poland was commissioned at the Zofiówka section.
KWK "Borynia" takes its name from the village of Borynia. Early prospecting for coal in the area was conducted between 1891 and 1913 during the period when the Duke of Pszczyna held rights over mineral extraction in his estates under a Prussian royal privilege. These works were suspended and not resumed until 1954, when renewed borehole surveys were carried out. On 25 February 1959 a conference at the Biuro Projektów Górniczych in Gliwice established the boundaries of the Borynia deposit, encompassing the Żory II and Gogołowa fields. The project was approved by the Rybnickie Zjednoczenie Przemysłu Węglowego in October 1961 and by the Ministry of Mining and Energy the following month. On 23 October 1961 the mining area was formally determined. On 16 November 1962, by ministerial decree, the joint construction directorate KWK "Zofiówka-Borynia-Pniówek" w budowie was established in Jastrzębie Górne. Construction of Borynia's shafts began in 1963 under extremely difficult geological conditions; the deposit was characterised by complex tectonics, variable seam thickness and dip, and unfavourable climatic conditions, and the geological documentation proved inaccurate in significant respects. State investment resources were also prioritised for the Zofiówka construction, leaving Borynia under-resourced. Following the completion of Zofiówka in 1969, on 16 April 1969 the name of the Borynia construction enterprise was changed to KWK "Borynia-Pniówek" w budowie. On 17 July 1971 the name was changed to KWK "Borynia," effective from 1 January 1972. The mine was officially inaugurated on 4 December 1971 in a ceremony attended by Edward Gierek, then First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). The mining area covered 17.4 km², and the planned output was 10,000 tonnes per day. In the mid-1970s, the quality of Borynia's coking coal led to the start of exports to countries of the second payment area.
In August–September 1980, a solidarity strike at KWK "Borynia" lasted six days; the mine's workforce joined the Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy based at KWK "Manifest Lipcowy" and participated in the Porozumienie Jastrzębskie process. During December 1981, a further strike at KWK "Borynia" was ended after six days by police intervention. In August 1988, a 15-day strike at the mine contributed to the broader pressures leading to the Round Table process. Borynia was administered successively within the Rybnickie Zjednoczenie Przemysłu Węglowego (to 1982), the Zrzeszenie Kopalń Węgla Kamiennego w Jastrzębiu-Zdroju (1982–1984), the Rybnicko-Jastrzębskie Gwarectwo Węglowe (1984–1988), and the Przedsiębiorstwo Eksploatacji Węgla "Południe" (1989). On 1 April 1993 KWK "Borynia" joined Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. In June 2008 a methane explosion at the 838 m working level killed four miners immediately and a further two in the following days, with nineteen others injured. In January 2009 the completion of an underground connection — the "Przekop do przyszłości" — of approximately 2,600 metres linked the underground workings of KWK "Borynia" and KWK "Zofiówka."
On 1 January 2011 JSW merged the two mines into KWK "Borynia-Zofiówka." This was the first stage of a planned combined mine. The Zofiówka section's working levels are at 705, 830, and 900 metres, with recoverable reserves of 50.9 million tonnes of type 35.2 coking coal. The Borynia section's recoverable coal reserves stand at 30.9 million tonnes of types 35.1, 35.2A, and 35.2B. On 1 January 2013 KWK "Jas-Mos" was incorporated and the name became KWK "Borynia-Zofiówka-Jastrzębie." On 1 January 2020, following the separation of the Jastrzębie section, the mine reverted to the name KWK "Borynia-Zofiówka." From 1 January 2023, with the incorporation of the Bzie section from the liquidated KWK "Jastrzębie-Bzie," the mine became KWK "Borynia-Zofiówka-Bzie." In July 2025 the Bzie section was merged into the Zofiówka section, resulting in a two-section mine.