Active coal transport and personnel shaft at KWK Budryk in Ornontowice, with headframe tower standing on the mine's main surface complex.
Szyb Budryk 3 is the third shaft of Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Budryk, located on the main surface complex of the mine in Ornontowice, Upper Silesia. KWK Budryk, one of the youngest hard coal mines in Poland, was authorised by a Council of Ministers resolution in September 1978 and construction began in 1979. The mine was designed to exploit high-quality coking coal deposits in the centre of the Upper Silesian coalfield.
After a protracted construction phase lasting through the 1980s, the mine received its extraction licence in March 1994 and production commenced. Szyb Budryk 3 is situated on the main pithead complex alongside Szyb Budryk I, and carries a headframe tower. During the six-month shutdown of Szyb VI from June to November 2021, Szyb III carried approximately 70 per cent of all personnel and material transport for the mine.
The mine has been owned by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. since January 2008 and continues active coking coal extraction.
KWK Budryk traces its origins to a study commission issued in February 1978 to the Biuro Projektów Górniczych in Katowice, following concepts developed by the Zabrzańskie Zjednoczenie Przemysłu Węglowego. On 15 September 1978 the Council of Ministers passed Resolution No. 134/78 authorising construction of the mine under the working name Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Ornontowice, setting a target production capacity of 20,000 tonnes of coking coal per day by 1991 and specifying two extraction levels at 1,000 m and 1,150 m. On 14 November 1978 Ministerial Directive No. 33 formally constituted the state enterprise under the name Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Budryk w budowie, honouring Professor Witold Budryk, the first person in Poland to hold a doctorate in mining engineering and a former rector of the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków.
Construction began in 1979, with Szyb I beginning to be sunk in October of that year. The construction period proved far more difficult and prolonged than the original plan envisaged. In October 1989 the government suspended the investment for one year to evaluate its viability.
At the beginning of 1991, in the thirteenth year of construction, the mine came close to total liquidation. The decision to continue was reached through the securing of a bank loan guaranteed by the government. The mine was subsequently incorporated into Gliwicka Spółka Węglowa as a joint stock company under construction.
On 21 March 1994 the mine received ministerial extraction licence No. 13/94 and coal production commenced that year, with the first tonne raised on 14 March 1994. Concurrent extraction of methane as a co-mined mineral also began. Szyb Budryk 3 is located on the main pithead site in Ornontowice alongside Szyb Budryk I, both of which carry headframe towers.
The mine has five shafts in total, with Szyb VI at Chudów serving the deepest workings. In December 2007 the Minister of Economy signed a decision to transfer KWK Budryk to Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. This triggered an underground strike from 17 December 2007, in which miners protested pay disparities. The strike, the longest underground occupational strike in post-war European history at 45 days, ended on 31 January 2008 following an agreement with the JSW management board.
The transfer was registered in January 2008. Under JSW ownership the mine continued development. When the winding installation in the northern compartment of Szyb VI was shut down from June to November 2021 for a major modernisation programme, Szyb III absorbed approximately 70 per cent of all personnel and materials transport during that six-month period, demonstrating its critical role in the mine's logistics.
The mine remains active under JSW ownership, extracting high-quality coking coal.