Důl Darkov Stonava · Moravian-Silesian Region · Czech Republic

The earliest mining activity in the area now comprising the Darkov mine field began in 1852 with the founding of Důl Gabriela, named after the wife of its founding proprietor, Count Žerotín. In 1856 a water inrush into the Gabriela shaft was followed by thirty years of restricted operation. After the collapse of the headframe and shaft building in 1887, the mine was progressively rebuilt and modernised. In 1873 the use of compressed air was introduced at Gabriela. In 1947 Důl Gabriela was renamed Důl UNRRA, and in 1950 further renamed Důl Mír.

In 1880 Důl Hohenegger was established in the same area, and in 1946 was renamed Důl 1. Máj. Důl Austria was opened in 1898 and from 1920 was known as Důl Barbora; shaft sinking at Austria had been preceded by problems with water inrushes, and actual coal production did not begin until 1909. In November 1960 a new shaft enterprise, Suchá-Stonava, began raising its first coal; this was renamed Důl 9. květen in 1965. In 1958 Důl Mír was merged with Důl 1. Máj.

The precondition for the modern Darkov shaft complex was established in 1949, when a ventilation shaft — jáma Mír 4 — was sunk near Solecký kopec to ventilate the Stonavské pole of Důl Mír. In 1972 capital construction of the new závod 2 — Darkov — began around jáma Mír 4. The new installation included a coal-preparation plant with a projected annual capacity of 7,300,000 tonnes of raw coal, intended as the central processing facility for the planned Karviná-východ group mine. Between 1972 and 1976 intake shaft Mír 5 was sunk in the vicinity of jáma Mír 4. Between 1979 and 1984 the auxiliary shaft complex (pomocný závod) was built in the new Darkov mining area, with additional intake and ventilation shafts sunk.

The first coal was hoisted from the eighth working level via jáma Mír 5 on 27 April 1982. The first working face at the Darkov shaft enterprise was commissioned in 1984. In September 1986 the southern skip hoisting equipment of jáma Mír 4 from the ninth level was brought into operation. In 1988, as part of a broader reorganisation, the management of the group mine (which encompassed závodem Darkov, Gabriela/Mír, and Barbora/1. Máj) was relocated to the Darkov administrative building. On 1 January 1993 závodem Darkov and Mír were merged into a single administrative unit.

From 1 July 1995 Důl 9. květen was again incorporated under Důl Darkov as závod 3. By this period Důl Darkov had established itself as the most productive hard-coal mine in central Europe, reaching annual output of approximately 4 million tonnes. The mine continued to expand production; the highest annual output recorded was 4,328,000 tonnes in 2000. The skip system on jáma Mír 4 was the most powerful in OKD: the southern skip was deployed at a depth of 802 metres (eighth level) and the northern at 967 metres (tenth level), with skip containers of 35 m³ capacity and a maximum hoisting speed of 14 metres per second. A record daily output of over 27,000 tonnes was achieved in 2014.

On 22 February 1998 a technical malfunction caused the severing of the skip hoist ropes on jáma Mír 4 and the fall of the skip containers into the shaft to a depth of over 1,000 metres, temporarily interrupting production. The greatest absolute depth in the Darkov locality was that of the ventilation jáma Mír 4 at 1,011 metres, with its collar at 235 metres above sea level, placing the shaft bottom 776 metres below sea level. In the broader Darkov locality the deepest working reached 967 metres below the shaft collar on the tenth level.

Several fatal accidents occurred at Důl Darkov. Two Polish miners were killed in a rock outburst in October 2003. Two miners died in a roof fall at a depth of 770 metres in June 2005. Two mine rescue workers were killed during recovery operations in July 2008. In August 2015 a methane ignition during roadway development killed three people and injured two others. In May 2020 Důl Darkov became a significant epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic, with 459 confirmed cases among mine workers recorded by 9 June 2020; all OKD mining was suspended for six weeks in July and August 2020.

On 1 April 2012 the shaft enterprises were consolidated into a single Důl Darkov. In autumn 2013 this was redesignated Závod Důl Darkov. Coal winding ended symbolically with the raising of the last tub on 23 February 2021; the mine was formally transferred to the state enterprise DIAMO, odštěpný závod DARKOV, with effect from 1 March 2021. Total coal extraction from the Darkov field from 1854 to 2021 amounted to approximately 310 million tonnes, and from the modern Darkov shaft alone approximately 53,931,900 tonnes from 1982 to 2021.

Following closure the auxiliary shaft site — the location of the supplied coordinates — was transferred to DIAMO for liquidation. The headframe and shaft building at the auxiliary shaft, reaching up to 55 metres in height, were not declared cultural monuments. DIAMO began preparatory demolition works at the auxiliary shaft compound in December 2021 and progressive demolition of the shaft building and headframe followed. The intake shaft of the auxiliary complex is 868 metres deep and 7.5 metres in diameter; backfilling with approximately 38,000 m³ of stabilised concrete mixture plus 5,500 m³ of standard concrete was planned. The main concrete skip tower over jáma Mír 4, at the primary shaft site, was not among the listed protected structures. DIAMO's master plan for the Darkov site envisages eventual handover to Karviná city for redevelopment.