Active coal production and materials shaft at Ruch Knurów of KWK Knurów-Szczygłowice, with headframe tower serving underground workings on the Wschodnie field.
Szyb Jan III is the third-numbered production shaft of KWK Knurów, located on the Wschodnie (East) field of the mine in Knurów, Upper Silesia. Its sinking began in 1963 and the shaft was completed to a depth of 599.6 metres by the time sinking reached that level; it was commissioned for production use around 1968, when the shaft is recorded as having come into operational existence. Four years later, in 1972, a modern coal preparation plant was constructed alongside the shaft, becoming the principal processing facility for the Wschodnie field.
The shaft served as a central production, materials, and personnel transport shaft, and remained active following the 2010 merger of KWK Knurów with KWK Szczygłowice. It is documented in regulatory records as an active winding installation serving multiple underground levels including level 850 m.
Szyb Jan III occupies the position of the third main shaft on the Wschodnie (East) field of KWK Knurów. The numbering reflects its position in the mine's shaft sequence: shaft I (Piotr) and shaft II (Paweł) were the original shafts sunk from 1903 onwards by German state initiative under Gustav von Velsen, and both had carried the mine's production since 1906. A third shaft had been attempted in 1907 but was abandoned.
The shaft now designated Jan III was therefore a fresh sinking of the 1960s, undertaken as part of the major post-war expansion of the mine. Sinking of the new shaft on the Wschodnie field began in 1963. By the time sinking was recorded in technical sources, the shaft had been deepened to 599.6 metres, with production levels accessible at 250 m, 350 m, 450 m, 550 m, 650 m, and subsequently 850 m.
The shaft was completed and commissioned around 1968. In 1972 a new, modern coal preparation plant was built at the surface alongside Szyb Jan III, replacing the older processing infrastructure that had been concentrated near the former Szyb Piotr. This plant became the primary coal processing facility for the Wschodnie field.
The old preparation plant at Szyb Piotr was demolished in 2000, and Szyb Piotr itself was closed in 2007. Szyb Jan III continued as the dominant production shaft on the Wschodnie field together with Szyb Paweł (shaft II), which had been modernised to level 650 m in 1987 and to level 850 m in 2002. In May 2016 a fault in the mine's 6 kV electrical network caused a temporary power loss to the shaft's winding installations, an incident investigated by the Wyższy Urząd Górniczy (the State Mining Authority).
Power was restored and the shaft returned to operation the same evening. In February 2010 KWK Knurów was merged with KWK Szczygłowice to form KWK Knurów-Szczygłowice, in which the Knurów workings operate as Ruch Knurów. Szyb Jan III remains an active shaft within this combined operation, serving multiple underground levels including the deepest level at 850 m.
The combined mine passed to Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. in August 2014 and continues active extraction of coking coal.