4 February 2010 --- WNP.PL – Mining Industry Must be Privatised
Mirosław Taras, President of Bogdanka’s Management Board: The mining industry should be privatised.
“Some mines will never be able to achieve good financial results”, Mirosław Taras, President of the Management Board of Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka, told the wnp.pl website.
Is it possible, in your opinion, to return in Poland to the concept of privatisation of the mining industry through strategic investors?
- Privatisation of the mining industry should be looked at primarily from the perspective of economic foundations of companies. Looking at the achievements of mining companies, it is obvious that some mines will never be able to achieve good financial results. And bad results of those mines aggravate the results of whole companies, and thus – of the whole Katowicki Holding Węglowy or the whole Kompania Węglowa.
It should be openly spoken that part of the Polish mining industry is permanently unprofitable and it should be liquidated.
Poland stands on coal and the Polish power sector is based on coal. Yet, currently one can purchase coal from abroad cheaper than from Polish mines. If the mining industry is to function and secure energy security for Poland, then only those mines should remain on the coal market which are able to extract coal profitably and compete with the imported coal.
So what should privatisation of the mining industry look like in your opinion?
- Some mines are known to have better financial standing, and the other part – worse. Those which have good financial standing should be privatised through the stock exchange. A good company and its good outlook will be readily purchased by financial investors.
And those mining companies that require support, know-how and means to bounce back would need strategic investors.
The mining industry surely needs to be privatised, because otherwise it will not cope with the external competition.
How do you assess the activity of mining trade unions?
- That's the point, there is also the issue of limiting the role of trade unions on top of this. The Act on trade unions is an anachronism which should be changed. It cannot continue like this.
I understand that trade unions act in the interest of staffs, that they are an important element of preventing Management Boards from treating employees instrumentally. However, union privileges are so huge that it translates into impeding the development of companies.
Interviewed by: Jerzy Dudała wnp.pl (Jerzy Dudała) 4 February 2010
“Some mines will never be able to achieve good financial results”, Mirosław Taras, President of the Management Board of Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka, told the wnp.pl website.
Is it possible, in your opinion, to return in Poland to the concept of privatisation of the mining industry through strategic investors?
- Privatisation of the mining industry should be looked at primarily from the perspective of economic foundations of companies. Looking at the achievements of mining companies, it is obvious that some mines will never be able to achieve good financial results. And bad results of those mines aggravate the results of whole companies, and thus – of the whole Katowicki Holding Węglowy or the whole Kompania Węglowa.
It should be openly spoken that part of the Polish mining industry is permanently unprofitable and it should be liquidated.
Poland stands on coal and the Polish power sector is based on coal. Yet, currently one can purchase coal from abroad cheaper than from Polish mines. If the mining industry is to function and secure energy security for Poland, then only those mines should remain on the coal market which are able to extract coal profitably and compete with the imported coal.
So what should privatisation of the mining industry look like in your opinion?
- Some mines are known to have better financial standing, and the other part – worse. Those which have good financial standing should be privatised through the stock exchange. A good company and its good outlook will be readily purchased by financial investors.
And those mining companies that require support, know-how and means to bounce back would need strategic investors.
The mining industry surely needs to be privatised, because otherwise it will not cope with the external competition.
How do you assess the activity of mining trade unions?
- That's the point, there is also the issue of limiting the role of trade unions on top of this. The Act on trade unions is an anachronism which should be changed. It cannot continue like this.
I understand that trade unions act in the interest of staffs, that they are an important element of preventing Management Boards from treating employees instrumentally. However, union privileges are so huge that it translates into impeding the development of companies.
Interviewed by: Jerzy Dudała wnp.pl (Jerzy Dudała) 4 February 2010