Active ventilation shaft of the ZG Polkowice-Sieroszowice copper-silver mine, standing adjacent to szyb P-V in the Polkowice area.
Szyb P-VI is a ventilation shaft of the ZG Polkowice-Sieroszowice mine operated by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. in Lower Silesia, Poland. It stands in very close proximity to szyb P-V in the Polkowice Dolne area, the two shafts forming a paired surface installation within the western Polkowice mining sector. Like P-V, P-VI belongs to the shaft infrastructure originally constructed for the Kopalnia Polkowice, whose development began in 1962 and which commenced production in 1968.
The shaft serves the polymetallic copper-silver deposit of the Polkowice area, hosted in Zechstein copper-bearing shales. Following the 1996 merger of the Polkowice and Sieroszowice mines, P-VI has continued in operational service as part of the unified ZG Polkowice-Sieroszowice. Maintenance and hoist-compartment works have been recorded at the shaft.
Szyb P-VI is one of the shafts constructed during the development of the Kopalnia Polkowice, which began in 1962 in the Polkowice area of the Lubin-Głogów Copper District in Lower Silesia. The copper-silver mineralisation in this district is hosted within Zechstein copper shales, and the Polkowice deposit lies at depths requiring deep shaft access. Shaft sinking across the Polkowice mine required the use of ground-freezing techniques to deal with the highly water-saturated overburden, a method applied systematically throughout the mine's development phase.
Horizontal development works in the Polkowice Zachodnie sector, the area in which P-VI is located, commenced in November 1967. The mine was formally handed over for initial exploitation on 19 July 1968, reaching 25 per cent of design production capacity by the end of that year. Within four years of opening, the Polkowice mine reached 4.5 million tonnes of ore production per year, rising further to 7.5 million tonnes the following year.
Szyb P-VI lies in very close proximity to szyb P-V, the two shafts forming a paired surface installation consistent with the multi-shaft layout adopted across the KGHM Polkowice mine sectors. Photographs confirm the two shafts stand side by side in the Polkowice Dolne locality. In 1972, construction of the Sieroszowice mine began adjacent to the Polkowice operation; it entered production in 1980 and shared ore-processing infrastructure with Polkowice.
On 1 January 1996 the two mines were formally merged to form the Zakłady Górnicze Polkowice-Sieroszowice, and P-VI has remained in active service as part of that combined operation's ten-shaft network. Maintenance and hoist-compartment works have been carried out at P-VI. The combined mine extracts approximately 12 million tonnes of polymetallic ore per year, with the Polkowice area ore containing approximately 46 g of silver per tonne alongside copper.